U.S. Says Iraq Militants Dealt Sharp Blow (notice the word "dealt"...)

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/08/AR2005070800732.html

U.S. Says Iraq Militants Dealt Sharp Blow

By ROBERT BURNS
The Associated Press
Friday, July 8, 2005; 12:04 PM

WASHINGTON -- U.S. and Iraqi forces have "mostly eliminated" the ability of insurgents to conduct sustained, high-intensity attacks in Baghdad, the top U.S. commander in the Iraqi capital said Friday.

Maj. Gen. William G. Webster Jr. said in a video-teleconference interview from Baghdad with reporters at the Pentagon that offensive operations by U.S. and Iraqi troops in recent weeks had sharply reduced the number of insurgent bombings. But he cautioned against concluding that the insurgency has been broken.

"It's very difficult to know it's over," Webster said.

There were 14 to 21 car bombings per week in Baghdad before the May 22 start of the U.S. portion of the latest offensive, dubbed Operation Lightning, he said. That has dropped to about seven or eight a week now, Webster said, attributing the improvement to the disruption of insurgent cells and the availability of more and better intelligence.

<</SNIP>>

[Postman]

1. Great !! Now lets bring the troops home.

n/t

[still_one]

2. idiots, that was the same way it was in Viet Nam

there were periods slow times, but in the course of time, it was their country, and they didn't want us there

we will be paying an extremely high cost both in lives and our economy by the time we realize how much of a mistake it was

[sabra]

4. Another thing to notice is that while "volume" has gone down

the type has changed. For instance the effective attacks on foreign envoys...

[still_one]

5. there whole premise is meaningless

they don't even know what comprises the "insurgents"

they are made up of all backgrounds, and personalities

but one thing is certain, they all don't want the U.S. to be there permantly, and this administration, which has been following the PNAC doctrine has other plans

It is doomed to fail

[Barrett808]

6. And the attacks on the Baghdad water infrastructure n/t

[alfredo]

7. Just what Osama wants. He wanted us tied down in a bloody,

expensive war in the Mideast.

[formercia]

3. and how many car bombings a week

were there when Fearless Leader declared "mission accomplished."

[bullimiami]

8. uh how about they arent stupid.

they go underground until the heat is off.

we wer told fallujah, shock and awe, operation whatthefuck ... were all going to do it and it has only gotten worse.

[mom cat]

9. And don't forget the Coalition Death Squads: (a must read)

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/11999387.htm

Posted on Mon, Jun. 27, 2005



R E L A T E D C O N T E N T

KRT
The hands of Mohammed Khalif, 47, are still in handcuffs as his body lies in the morgue in Baghdad, Iraq.





Sunni men in Baghdad targeted by attackers in police uniforms

By Tom Lasseter and Yasser Salihee

Knight Ridder Newspapers



BAGHDAD, Iraq - Days after Iraq's new Shiite-led government was announced on April 28, the bodies of Sunni Muslim men began turning up at the capital's central morgue after the men had been detained by people wearing Iraqi police uniforms.


Faik Baqr, the director and chief forensic investigator at the central Baghdad morgue, said the corpses first caught his attention because the men appeared to have been killed in methodical fashion. Their hands had been tied or handcuffed behind their backs, their eyes were blindfolded and they appeared to have been tortured. In most cases, the dead men looked as if they'd been whipped with a cord, subjected to electric shocks or beaten with a blunt object and shot to death, often with single bullets to their heads.


Marks on the bodies were similar to the injuries found on prisoners who were rescued from secret Interior Ministry jails by representatives of the Iraqi ministry for human rights, according to family accounts and medical records.


Iraqi and American officials said the murders aren't being investigated systematically, but in dozens of interviews with families and Iraqi officials, and a review of medical records, a Knight Ridder reporter and two special correspondents found more than 30 examples of this type of killing in less than a week. They include 12 cases with specific dates, times, names and witnesses who said they might come forward if asked by law enforcement.


The Interior

[Media_Lies_Daily]

10. Delusional.

[Teaser]

11. SANDSTORM.

The cause has been a sandstorm.

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/1601

[The White Tree]

12. Wow thats great news!!!!!

:toast: :party: :applause: :woohoo:

Now maybe the insurgency will only last 11 years.:sarcasm:

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

13. Is 11 years a "throe"?

[formercia]

14. how many throes are there in a Century?

as in PNAC

[cliss]

15. Reverse Darwin's Law

In the US military, it's "survival of the un-fittest". It seems that the way to get promoted in the military is to be a yes-man, a brown-noser, and a stooge.

Because that's all we've got in the military.

[daleo]

16. I think everyone is just taking a rest

I have noticed that after a big troop loss (like the helicopter crash in Afghanistan), the Iraq war takes a bit of a breather. Maybe U.S. forces have orders to lay low, to keep deaths down for a while. Maybe the resistance just takes the opportunity to re-group. In either case, this Webster fellow is probably off the mark.

[Inland]

17. Insurgents exhausted, taking July and August off nt

[formercia]

21. only mad dogs and Americans

go out in the noonday sun.

[Inland]

23. And wht's the rush?

It's not like the Americans won't still be there, unarmored, after labor day.

[central scrutinizer]

18. Good, Baghdad is "free"

That only leaves 98.37% of the country to go. At this rate, it should only take 3-4 centuries, max.

[teryang]

19. Webster appeared extremely uncomfortable

...I wonder if he could have passed a polygraph during the confernece?

[drduffy]

20. The underlying question

appears to be ... since it was referred to several times above ... is whether 'you' .. 'we'... want the PNAC to fail or to win. And if one or the other, what do we think the consequences will be. Fall of the Neocon creepheads, devasting consequences of peak oil?; global hot war against Russia and China (note potential realignment of far east nations with China and Russia)?; successful implementation of global hegemony and the Empire of Bush? Collapse into squallor and agrarianism?

Anybody have a thought? Anybody care?


(p.s. personally I am buying a farm and an Ox.... and maybe a horse -- and a bunch of chickens and goats and some nonMonsanto seeds) .... and a few guns.

edit to add: And it doesn't much matter whether it is a Hillary or a Bush clone that leads us down the Bilderbirger path. If you think there is a big difference you haven't been watching the news.

[ElectroPrincess]

22. Yes, people do care ...

Anyone who has the courage to stand up to the Neo-Cons deserves our respect even if it isn't exactly like we think it should be done.

Not promoting any lock-step marching among progressives, just an appreciation that OUR representatives are beginning to make some headway. Let's allow them to have their voice heard - we can pick apart the particular details at a later time? IMO it may be best to throw the facts at them as our "brave" representatives suggest, then hope (and I pray) we make a difference in the realm of USA public opinion.