American forces have routed Al Qaeda allowing the surge to end as planned

[fintstone]

Can you imagine...this article was hidden on page 19 of the NYT. No wonder Americans do not realize how much progress has been made in Iraq. Hard to deny who the liberal press is rooting for...and against.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 8, 2007
New York Times
Militant Group Is Out of Baghdad, U.S. Says
By DAMIEN CAVE
BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 — American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the “surge” to depart as planned.

Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of United States forces in Baghdad, also said that American troops had yet to clear some 13 percent of the city, including Sadr City and several other areas controlled by Shiite militias. But, he said, “there’s just no question” that violence had declined since a spike in June.

“Murder victims are down 80 percent from where they were at the peak,” and attacks involving improvised bombs are down 70 percent, he said.

General Fil attributed the decline to improvements in the Iraqi security forces, a cease-fire ordered by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, the disruption of financing for insurgents, and, most significant, Iraqis’ rejection of “the rule of the gun.”

His comments, in a broad interview over egg rolls and lo mein in a Green Zone conference room, were the latest in a series of upbeat assessments he and other commanders have offered in recent months. But his descriptions revealed a city still in transition: tormented by its past, struggling to find a better future.

“The Iraqi people have just decided that they’ve had it up to here with violence,” he said, while noting that their demands for electricity, water and jobs have intensified.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced families are returning to their homes, but a majority of them are still afraid to go back to neighborhoods now segregated by sect. “Clearly,” General Fil said, “it will take some time for Baghdad to restore itself to what it was.”

He and other military commanders have maintained for months that the conditions for national reconciliation have been met. They argue that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence agencies say is foreign-led, has been weakened. They cite in particular the rise of the American-supported citizen volunteers — 67,000 nationwide, according to military figures.

And though Sunni extremist groups could revive and “reinfest very quickly,” General Fil said, Iraq’s leaders should now have the peace they need to build a trusted, cross-sectarian government. But progress toward that, he said, has been “disappointing.”

Soon, General Fil said, there will be fewer troops for the Iraqis to rely on. “Already we are at a point where we’ll see that as the surge forces depart the city, we’ll see a natural decline in numbers, and I’m very comfortable where that comes to,” he said.

With less than two months to go before his division heads home, General Fil offered a mixed vision of the military’s role for the coming year. He said that if 2007 was the year of security, 2008 would probably be “a year of reconstruction, a year of infrastructure repair, and a year of, if there’s going to be a surge, a year of the surge of the economy.”

He acknowledged that dislodging Shiite militias from control of gasoline, government ministries and other sources of power would be difficult.

The biggest threat to Baghdad’s security is now Shiite militias, he said. Infrastructure weaknesses and unemployment are also serious obstacles, which American efforts at the local level cannot fully address because “these become national-level problems,” he said. Violence, meanwhile, despite recent declines in some areas, has moved to some degree to rural villages and towns from major cities, American and Iraqi commanders said.

On Wednesday, two children were killed when a roadside bomb exploded on a farm road in Wasit Province. South of Baquba, Iraqi army patrols found 17 bodies, blindfolded, handcuffed and decayed. Four were found headless about 200 yards away. It was the second mass grave discovered in a rural area this week.

American troops have recently focused more operations on the farm towns and dusty villages of the country, with the latest coming this week outside Kirkuk in the north.

The operations are aimed at maintaining what General Fil described as vital momentum. The greatest challenge of the coming months, he said, will be satisfying the delicate hopes and expectations of Iraqis, who see security not as an end, but just as a beginning.

Stability, General Fil said, “is within sight but not yet within touch.”

“Close, but not yet within touch.”

Reporting was contributed by Khalid al-Ansary, Anwar J. Ali and Mudhafer al-Husaini from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Baquba and Kirkuk.

[Rearden]

Iraqi PM sees decline in Baghdad attacks - Stats support al-Maliki's view that sectarian violence is ending

Move along. Nothing to see here.

[Joeaksa]

Wonder what its going to take to get the news agencies to give us news, instead of trying to make the news themselves or twist it with their slant?

[turbo6bar]

Great news. I'm glad to know some things are going well for the military.

[Normy]

Great news. So I suppose dubya will be bringing all our soldiers home right away then?

[-except for the 3900 that have died there-]

[legion]

Originally Posted by fintstone

Can you imagine...this article was hidden on page 19 of the NYT. No wonder Americans do not realize how much progress has been made in Iraq. Hard to deny who the liberal press is rooting for...and against.

Any guess on what page this story would have been on had it reported a tremendous failure of the Surge?

[jluetjen]

The headline article was titled: What a Surge Really Means. The piece included such tidbits as...

Coming from Bush, a man known for bold strokes, the surge is a strange half-measure--too large for the political climate at home, too small to crush the insurgency in Iraq and surely three years too late. Bush has waved off a bipartisan rescue mission out of pride, stubbornness or ideology, or some combination of the three. Rather than reversing course, as all the wise elders of the Iraq Study Group advised, the Commander in Chief is betting that more troops will lead the way to what one White House official calls "victory."

(my emphasis)

SO, IS THE SURGE BUSH'S LAST STAND?

PROBABLY YES, WHETHER BUSH INTENDS IT that way or not. There is always a chance that a surge might reduce the violence, if only for a while. But given that nothing in Iraq has gone according to plan, it seems more likely that it won't. That's why many in the military assume privately that a muscular-sounding surge now is chiefly designed to give Bush the political cover to execute a partial withdrawal on his terms later. "We think that by bringing the level of violence down and bringing the level of Iraqi support up, we will be able to begin to hand over the country," Kagan told TIME.

But that fact hides one other big political change since the November elections. Skepticism among Republicans about the President's thinking on Iraq has become reflexive. Over the past week, two Republican Senators, Richard Lugar of Indiana and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, indicated they were far from sold on the surge, and Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran from Nebraska, called a surge "folly." A senior aide to a G.O.P. Senator told TIME that "requiring more troops without providing the goals or the message is a killer. It's a political killer."

[72doug2,2S]

Good news for America, bad news for Democrats.

[Moneyguy1]

Wait.

[legion]

Originally Posted by Moneyguy1

Wait.

The Dems have another plan to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?

[72doug2,2S]

Originally Posted by legion

The Dems have another plan to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?

If you mean plan as in lies, then I think Moneyguy has a point.

Good post Moneyguy!

[Jim Sims]

Then it must be be a good time to buy Iraqi government bonds. Who will be buying?

[CRH911S]

Definition of victory: All of Iraq's infrastructure is destroyed, millions have left the country, the country's neighborhoods have been ethnically cleansed and are separated by huge concrete barriers and heavily armed military patrols to force the peace.
While in America the State Department is using force and the threat of destroying careers to staff our embassy in Iraq.
To suggest victory is to suggest that the surge and US forces have beaten into submission the opposing forces. No one and not even our little idiot and his gange that can't shoot strait are willing to call the lull in the violence victory. Instead they refer to it as progress is being made. Victory is an unconditional term and certainly being used out of context here!

[legion]

Saddam had to have many people killed and ruled with an iron hand to keep the peace. We just separate people who don't like each other.

[kach22i]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

And though Sunni extremist groups could revive and “reinfest very quickly,” General Fil said, Iraq’s leaders should now have the peace they need to build a trusted, cross-sectarian government. But progress toward that, he said, has been “disappointing.”

Stability, General Fil said, “is within sight but not yet within touch.”

“Close, but not yet within touch.”

Deadliest year yet for American troops, excuse me if I don't cheer with the rest of you.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by CRH911S

... No one and not even our little idiot and his gange that can't shoot strait ...!

???

[Rearden]

We're getting a preview of the new Democrat talking points.

"Yea but Iraq is not a good place to invest"
"Yea but the dead soldiers aren't coming home"
"Yea but the insurgents could fight another day if they choose"
"Yea but the US destroyed their infrastructure"
"Yea but political progress in Iraq has been slow"

Keep 'em coming.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Rearden

We're getting a preview of the new Democrat talking points.

We're getting a preview of the new republican talking points.

Don't quote our Generals unless they are saying what the President wants them to

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by kach22i

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin


Deadliest year yet for American troops, excuse me if I don't cheer with the rest of you.

Here comes the spin...attempts to make any progress our brave troops have made seem like failure. True, exactly as the administration, Rumsfeld, and even I said all along. Increase the number of troops in country, you will increase casualties...But guys like you knew better...

Yes, Name anouther war when we didn't lose more troops in a year when we made decisive progress. It was exactly as expected...but, each of our soldiers that gave their life was there willingly...and apparently those lives have made the difference. If you want to make judgments regarding how well things are going based on lives lost...as in any war, you must consider objectives taken and enemy lives lost (assuming you actually want to win).

It seems to me that the surge was timed perfectly to coincide with a change in the country and has had a multiplier effect.

Actually I wouldn't expect for you to cheer if it was announced that we had toutally won and every one of our troops would be home tomorrow. That would be the greatest fear of some folks. That the war might actually be over before a democrat can be elected and announce defeat and pull out the troops in something resembling a surrender.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by Moneyguy1

Wait.

True. Iraq is just one of many fronts in the war on Islamic terror. We will certainly see even more desperate moves...perhaps in Iraq, perhaps in other countries...as the Iraqi people begin to take back their country from the terrorists.

But no doubt, tremendous progress has been made! It is really going to suck for liberals and other spineless lower life forms who support the enemy...because they can no longer gleefully declare, "It is just like Vietnam!"