IRAQ SURGE A SUCCESS
Kimberly Kagan writes for the Wall Street Journal. She decided to take a first hand look at the situation in Iraq and whether the surge was actually failing as was being reported by the MSM and claimed by Democrats. What she found was just the opposite. Read her detailed and telling account of progress, success and secuirty in Iraq from a true eye witness.
posted by The Liberal Lie The Conservative Truth | 11:05 AM
25 Comments:
Ken, Kimberly Kagan is not a writer for the WSJ and you are not linking to a news story. It is an opinion piece from several weeks ago.
As she points out, the reason for the surge is to secure Baghdad so that the politicians could work safely and come together and resolve their differences. In the three weeks since she published her opinion piece, not only have the Iraqis not resolved anything, but they have decided to go on vacation for a month. I doubt any political solutions are forthcoming.
So, while our soldiers die, the Iraqi politicians are staying out of the heat.
There are a number of other political "storm clouds" that are popping up. For example, there is widespread "untouchable" corruption within the Iraqi government (see the story at msnbc.com).
Maliki is now openly criticizing Petreaus for arming Sunni militias. You will remember that Maliki is Shia and he has been allowing Shia death squads to target Sunnis.
The arming of Sunnis has splintered Maliki's ruling coalition of Shia political groups. So as if things are not bad enough, Maliki is facing the very real possibility of being kicked out by his own coalition. If that happens, it would mean that the government will collapse and the U.S. would have to start dealing with an all new prime minister and a new government.
Other than that, things are going just great.
Oh yeah, and she was writing about her trip back in May. A lot has changed since then.
First Rob, I never claimed it was a news story and have corrected the "writer" to "writes for" which is what she does.
Second it is up to the people of Iraq as to what happens to Maliki. If they so choose to oust him it does not mean a governemnt will, "collapse, " it just means that as is the case with any parlimantary government a new one will be formed and as an partner we will have to deal with it just as we do with other parlementary governments who we partner with like Japan and the UK.
Thirdly why can you not admit that though there is still work to do that the evidence, which I might add is even being reported on some liberal media outlets, is showing that ths surge is bringing security, and stability to Iraq.
Rob even the Girl Scouts feel safe enough to sell cookies. That does not sound like a country on the brink of anarchy and death!
The governmental issues will iron out and even you must admit are in better shape than they were this time last year. How many years did it take before we got to the point of embracing a Constitutional Rebublic.
Remember in our history we went through many governments so to speak before full establishment of the Constitution and Washington taking office. Don't forget the total failure of the Artciles of Confederation that brought tax wars between states, anarchy, poverty, rampant inflation and almost promted a second revolution as citizens were revolting against the government.
Iraq has had a government as it is for only three years with a history that extends over thousands of years of tribal violence that they must work through. It could very well take an entire genration of Iraqis growing up in a Demcoracy before old habits and rivalries within the tribes ends.
In the mean time the country MUST remain secure from influence of states like Iran and yes the Al Qaeda influence. That is what we are doing and it is successful.
She has a pretty good story there but NOTHING beats the New York Times of ALL people who had two Liberal's VERY critical of the Bush administration and the Surge and the War in general just got back from Iraq and had their entire view of this war changed and they even claim "A War We Might Just Win" was the caption of this story.
Oh they can spin this any way they want to but the Surge is working, death rates for our Troops are falling, car bombs are dropping, and the Troops are holding territory, and Iraqi's are starting to throw in with the Coalition and turning in al-qaeda.
I'm sure however the Liberals will still find a way to doom and gloom this, but I knew there would come a day when the good news coming from Iraq would start to overshadow the bad, and that drives the Liberals nuts!
If a report on good news comes from Iraq and drives the Liberals nuts what the heck will Victory do to them?
OOps I forgot to put the link in there
A War We Might Just Win
Ken, Kimberly Kagan does not write for the WSJ. She wrote a one-time opinion piece. She is the Executive Director of a small conservative thinktank in Washington.
The whole point of the surge is to facilitate a political solution. By what I have described not only is there no political solution on the horizon, but if Maliki is replaced (and that is looking ever more likely) we will have to start over. That is moving backward.
It things were going so well, why would Maliki be in trouble?
By the way, do you have a link to the story about Girl Scouts selling cookies in Iraq. I have never heard of that and my daughter is a Brownie. We get plenty of updates each month about notable stories.
Marie stole my thunder. I was going to say when even the New York Slimes admits that the surge is working, the Libs must grudgingly admit they are wrong. But will they? Don't hold your breath.
"Oh yeah, and she was writing about her trip back in May. A lot has changed since then"
Yeah. And all of it good news. Your sour defeatism is getting TIRESOME!
Dare I say we may be witnessing a rare event: the perfect storm of public, political and media opinion galvanizing around the idea that we CAN succeed in Iraq?
I'm sure Rob will do his best to obfuscate the issue, but if things continue as they are and General Petraeus comes back with a positive report the Robs of this world will look like the defeatist fools they are.
If I err at all, let it be on the side of VICTORY. I'd hate to be so sold on defeat. That must be a miserable way to go through life.
By the way, the causalty count for US Troops in Iraq was officially announced today at 73 US Service men and women lost. That is the lowest number in the last eight months. It has been dropping steadily for the past four months.
While the loss of anyon in service of this country is a tragedy all it's own (and I hate relegating these brave people down to numbers) the fact that we are losing less and less of them, while achieving a higher level of security and lower violence is a clear sign of sucess.
Oh yeah, Marie, did you hear Pollack's (the one from the NYT article) statement on CNN this weekend? He said that even though it was an inconveneint fact for those who have already decide this war is lost, it was reality on the gournd in Iraq that this surge is working extremely well.
CC - death tolls for American soldiers in Iraq this year:
July - 73
June - at least 99
May - at least 86
April - 102
March - 82
February - 81
January - 83
What do you believe the numbers are and where are you getting your numbers from to say that the death toll has been steadily dropping?
No one has addressed any of my substantive comments about the failure of the Iraqis to achieve a political settlement. Not only are our soldiers dying for the Iraqi politicians to resolve their differences, but the politicians have now gone on vacation for the next month - no settlement is possible if they are on vacation!
Making matters worse, today it was reported that there are now only 2 Sunnis on Maliki's 40-member Cabinet. The rest quit because of the failures of Maliki to stop the Shia death squads. This is not progress.
Mike, if you don't understand that the Surge is only a tool for allowing the Iraqi government to resolve its differences, then you are completely ignorant.
Let's assume that you are not completely ignorant - since you believe the news is all good out of Iraq, what political progress can you cite?
Petraeus is going to get a script written for him from the White House, but he will be forthcoming and Republicans in Congress will turn their back on the President's ridiculous occupation in Iraq before the end of the year.
Uhm, my numbers were from the DOD's offical release dated 07/31/07.
They show April at 117, May at 94, June at 100 and now July at 73. Other sources hit all around those numbers some showing May with higher results thatn June. I will take my bets with the DoD numbers, but I was being generous. It is still a four month downward trend and the lowest month for the in almost a year.
While I agree that the surge is a political tool to allow the Iraq government some maneuvering room, it is also a tactical tool to establish stability and transfer control to the Iraqi Army.
Your Democrats are already starting to backpedal and warn of splits in the party over this. If the news is good in September it will not be good news from the Democrats.
I know there are still milestones for the Iraqi government to reach and I am sincerely disappointed in their failure so far, but it took us almost twelve years to recontruct our country into a cohesive force with a solid founding document behind it, and we were pretty much all on the same page. What were are expecting the Iraqi government to do in short order took us over a decade to accomplish. That does not mean that abandoning the mission in Iraq is the right choice.
You still buy Bush's nonsense about our troops "standing down when Iraqi troops stand up." That was not the point of the surge.
You should go back and read what Bush said when he explained what the goals of the surge were back in January.
"A successful strategy for Iraq goes beyond military operations. Ordinary Iraqi citizens must see that military operations are accompanied by visible improvements in their neighborhoods and communities. So America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced."
I guess he changed his mind . . . again! No need to hold the Iraqi politicians accountable.
Baghdad is no longer getting running water. That's just great in 117 degree heat. That is progress?
Here is the bottom line, the surge was part of a broader plan to have the government come together and make progress. If there is no political progress, there is no solution. And, with the Iraqi politicians going on vacation and all but 2 of the Sunnis in the 40-person Iraqi Cabinet resigning yesterday, there is no progress.
Also, CC - can you provide me with a link to the DOD press release you are citing?
I checked the DOD press releases at:
http://www.defenselink.mil/Releases/
and didn't see the casualty summary figures you provided.
I will say that if you look at the casualty reports, at least 4 more soldiers were reported to be killed in Iraq in July. The official DOD releases have come in August (probably a result of family notifications).
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