Casey Predicts Success in Iraq, Calls Mission 'Realistic'

[sabra]

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Aug2005/20050817_2461.html

Casey Predicts Success in Iraq, Calls Mission 'Realistic'

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17, 2005 – The commander of coalition forces in Iraq today predicted success in what he called the "realistic" mission his troops are performing.
Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. spoke with NBC "Today" program host Matt Lauer in Baghdad.

"We're going to get where we want to be, and we're going to be successful here," Casey said. "I've been here a little over a year now, and the longer I'm here, the more comfortable I am that this mission is ... realistic and that we can achieve our objectives."

Although terrorists continue to launch more than five dozen attacks around Iraq each day, Casey pointed out that most are ineffective. "One of the interesting points is that of the 60 or 70 attacks a day, only around 20 of those attacks are effective (and) actually produce a casualty," he said. "And that has held true for months."

[4dsc]

1. More rightwing propaganda..

notice this news is coming from the military!! What else would they say??

[Kagemusha]

2. After being dressed down for insufficient propagandizing?

Not much else.

[NewJeffCT]

3. Didn't some general just say the wheels were falling off?

Casey rings a bell, but I could be wrong.

[FloridaPat]

4. 60-70 a day? Is he insane too? So if the rebels increase their attacks

to 120-130 a day, 40 of those attacks would be effective. Is he saying to be effective they have to kill someone?

[PassingFair]

5. Realistic? Are they even allowed to use that word?

Oh yeah, they create their OWN REALITY! I keep forgetting. Carry on...

[papau]

6. WaPo just reported they redefined success of the "realistic" mission

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081300853.html?sub=AR

U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq
Administration Is Shedding 'Unreality' That Dominated Invasion, Official Says

By Robin Wright and Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 14, 2005; A01



The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.

The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.

"What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."<snip>

Barbers post signs saying they do not shave men, after months of barbers being killed by religious extremists. Ethnic or religious-based militias police the northern and southern portions of Iraq. Analysts estimate that in the whole of Iraq, unemployment is 50 percent to 65 percent.<snip>

"We didn't calculate the depths of feeling in both the Kurdish and Shiite communities for a winner-take-all attitude," said Judith S. Yaphe, a former CIA Iraq analyst at the National Defense University.
<snip>
Washington now does not expect to fully defeat the insurgency before departing, but instead to diminish it, officials and analysts said. There is also growing talk of turning over security responsibilities to the Iraqi forces even if they are not fully up to original U.S. expectations, in part because they have local legitimacy that U.S. troops often do not.
<snip>
Pentagon officials originally envisioned Iraq's oil revenue paying many post-invasion expenses. But Iraq, ranked among world leaders behind Saudi Arabia in proven oil reserves, is incapable of producing enough refined fuel amid a car-buying boom that has put an estimated 1 million more vehicles on the road after the invasion. Lines for subsidized cheap gas stretch for miles every day in Baghdad.

Oil production is estimated at 2.22 million barrels a day, short of the goal of 2.5 million. Iraq's pre-war high was 2.67 million barrels a day.
<snip>

Knickmeyer reported from Baghdad.

[ninkasi]

19. From the WaPo article you posted

this would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

"What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."<snip>

Those of us who were living in the real world predicted all of this, and were called traitors. Yet, if someone asked the Chimp again what mistakes he had made, he would be as unable to think of any now as he was before.

I have made mistakes; he commits crimes. There is a huge difference.

[The Night Owl]

7. If Gen. Casey wants to sleep with George W. Bush, he should just ask him.

[sniffa]

8. the new tet offensive sy hersh spoke of

may be coming sooner, rather than Later.

[Teaser]

9. to be fair...

This guy doestn't have a choice what to say.

I know Casey grinds his teeth in frustration every night while he sleeps.

He knows what's happening to the military.

[atreides1]

22. Then he needs to make a decision

Sit idly by and do nothing as the U.S. troops on the ground are killed and maimed, and then shit on by this administration, or stand up and tell the truth about what is really happening.

If he chooses to sit on his hands and do nothing, then to hell with being fair, he's just as responsible for the betrayal of the military
as BushCo is, and the blood that is being spilled is on his hands as well.

[necso]

10. LOL!

It's clear why this guy has the job -- he's a liar, a shill, a toady -- and a fool.

"'If you're a student of history," he said, 'you realize that the average insurgency in the 20th century has lasted nine years.'"

And, uh, general, what percentage of these "insurgencies" ended up by being successful?

...

On a related note, the "they're out of touch with reality" line (besides being true) clearly has been scoring hits.

[skypilot]

15. And after that "nine years" is over...

...we'll still have the war on terrorism to fight.

[daleo]

32. That's about how long it took in Afghanistan

To convince the Russians to leave.

[DrZeeLit]

36. And what percent of pre-emptive strike invasions have been successful? n/

[bribri16]

11. So where is "where we want to be" and do we know when we get there? n.t

[calimary]

17. I think the "where we want to be" is strictly in an ever-narrowing

slice of turf inside the Green Zone. I think it was Sy Hersh on "The Daily Show" last night who reminded that most of the brass over there in Baghdad are heavily guarded, they live and work in the tight security of this shrinking island inside the Green Zone, and don't get out much to where it's really wild and wooly. They don't dare, anyway, because they know they'd return looking like a slice of swiss cheese. Hersh also mentioned that the insurgency is gaining enough momentum that the plans evidently are more and more to stage strikes INSIDE the Green Zone. Nobody's safe there anymore. Nobody.

Actually, I kinda feel for this guy. He's a company man. Speaking in an official capacity, on the record, knowing that the Pentagon is looking over his shoulder every second. He's following orders and obeying chain-of-command. Just being a good soldier like he was probably trained to be over the course of a lifetime. But I'd bet that - if you got him off, alone, and under the influence of three or four beers, you'd find out what he REALLY thinks, and it would likely be a whole lot less optimistic, and much more "realistic."

Can't help but scoff at their attempts to spin a new word into the common lexicon - "realistic." What a crock. What a travesty. What a complete disgrace.

[atreides1]

30. Casey stopped being a good soldier when he told his first lie.

Actually he's being a crappy soldier and is nothing more then a tin plated general, he has little concern for the troops under his command, because he's more interested in getting that good paying consulting job when he retires.


So he, like Powell and Myers, is only interested in what he can get
from being loyal to a serial murderer and the evil, malignant toads that support him.

[truth2power]

12. Casey must be smoking some good stuff!! Ha hahaha. n/t

[gratuitous]

13. You will note that he didn't define the mission

And it's perfectly reasonable and realistic to think that we can bleed Iraq white while stuffing the pockets of George W. Bush, his cronies and benefactors. That mission is going swimmingly!

[RethugAssKicker]

14. Complete assholes...Never listen

to the so-called "experts". They're all military. They have to say all is going well.

[Viking12]

16. So tell me General...

What exactly is the mission? What are the objectives? How can we acheive them if they are never articulated?

[sendero]

18. In a perverse way...

... I admire folks like this. They stand there are lie like dogs because that is basically "their job". From Casey to McClellan, they have supressed whatever goodness there might have once been in their character and they can stand there straight-faced and lie, lie, lie.

Sometimes I wish I could lie like that, seems to pay well :)

[Gregorian]

20. Can someone get this man a straight jacket.

We let them virtually use the planet as their golfball. Now we have to find them a rubber room. They masquerade as adults. I'm tired of being the janitor.
Hey, the good news is that noone still knows what happened during Reagan's years. At least we've managed to be our own media in this last administration. I'd say that's progress.

[booksenkatz]

21. he said, rubbing his sore, swollen, red ass and limping away quietly. nt

[VegasWolf]

23. "We've got them right where they want us!!" nt

[The_Casual_Observer]

24. Peace is just around the corner! Peace with honor!

There will be peace just as soon as we win this war!

[I concur]

25. Gen. "Assbrass" Casey...

...might be rosy about success; Spec. Casey (Sheehan) proves otherwise.

[meganmonkey]

26. Welcome to DU, I concur!

:toast:

"Assbrass" is funny :P

[I concur]

29. thank you...

...glad to be here. I've been a long-time lurker and a sometime donor. I am very much a libertarian and there are a lot of things I like about DU and some I don't, (the "f" word language used by some in the membership).

[brentspeak]

27. Just what are the objectives?

Even if the US military manages to locate and wipe out all the insurgants (an impossible task, but let's just suppose), what then? The Iraqi borders are still unprotected - foreign fighters and miscreants will be funneling into Iraq for years to come.

In other words, nobody running the show has a clue. Just like Vietnam.

[Maggie_May]

28. If this is such a success than

Casey should get out of the green zone and go on some patrols with our regular army. Than maybe out of those 60 to 70 attacks a day he may be lucky and he won't be one of the 20 attacks that produce casualties.

[daleo]

31. Mission is "realistic"

In other words, they can call it a day whenever it suits them, and say "realistically" they already won.

It is the usual Bushian reverse bizzaro logic.

[pauldavid]

33. Guess He didn't get the memo

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB163/index.htm

State Department experts warned CENTCOM
before Iraq war about lack of plans for
post-war Iraq security

Planning for post-Saddam regime change began
as early as October 2001

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 163

Posted - August 17, 2005

For more information: Malcolm Byrne - 202/994-7000


Washington, D.C., August 17, 2005: Newly declassified State Department documents show that government experts warned the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) in early 2003 about "serious planning gaps for post-conflict public security and humanitarian assistance," well before Operation Iraqi Freedom began.

In a February 7, 2003, memo to Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky, three senior Department officials noted CENTCOM's "focus on its primary military objectives and its reluctance to take on 'policing' roles," but warned that "a failure to address short-term public security and humanitarian assistance concerns could result in serious human rights abuses which would undermine an otherwise successful military campaign, and our reputation internationally." The memo adds "We have raised these issues with top CENTCOM officials." ....

More at link

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB163/index.htm

[okieinpain]

34. wow, they only attempted one on 9-11-01. it's like the iraqi guy

that was saying "we will defeat the americans", and there was a tank driving down the street behind him. wow.

[Orsino]

35. To be successful, then...

...all an insurgent has to do is keep trying for a few months?

Or if he's claiming that they never get a second chance, where are all those new insurgents coming from?