Pentagon report: Insurgent attacks hit postwar high

[lebkuchen]

Insurgent attacks in Iraq reached a postwar high in the four months preceding Jan. 20, according to a Iraq progress report issued Friday by the Pentagon.

More than 550 attacks took place in Iraq from Aug. 29, 2005, to Jan. 20, 2006, according to the latest “security and stability” report the Defense Department is required to send lawmakers every four months.

Speaking to Pentagon reporters Friday, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs said that the survey’s conclusions “were not good,” but that “loving us is not what it’s about.”

Awareness of the relative unpopularity of U.S. troops “is one of the reasons we want to turn over the battlespace” to the Iraqi security forces, Rodman said.

Only one period approaches the recent numbers: From June 29 to Nov. 26, 2004, which included the battle for Fallujah and major clashes with Shiite insurgents belonging to Muqtada

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=35298

***************
Dropping napalm, Mark 77, "willie pete," and daisy cutters on the Iraqis, not to mention torturing them to death, hasn't improved the status of US forces in Iraq any--just the opposite.

The following information, below, from the same article, does not bode well for the future of US forces in Iraq, but rather, supports what returning soldiers have told me-- "They hate us over there."
****************

The survey, which the report says was conducted by the State Department’s Office of Research from Oct. 24-27, 2005, said that the “overwhelming majority of respondents in every region polled chose the terms ‘terrorist,’ or ‘criminal’” to describe the perpetrators of violence against Iraqi civilians.

But when asked to describe the individuals attacking coalition forces, 88 percent of Iraqis in the mostly Sunni areas of Tikrit and Baqouba called them either “freedom fighters” or “patriots.”

Even in the more mixed Sunni-Shiite areas of Baghdad and Kirkuk, about 53 percent of Iraqis polled chose either the patriot or freedom fighter characterization.

[xchrom]

1. ya know if george bush didn't tell me better -- i might think

there's a civil war goin on...

but my god sent president says no...:banghead:

[Arkansas Granny]

3. That's right. And aren't we glad that the insurgency is in it's

death throes? Otherwise, things could be going very badly over there right now.

:grr:

[xchrom]

4. lol -- you're right, they would be going very badly.

[lapfog_1]

2. One of the little remarked upon news items

that came out in the Friday news dump (while everyone was focused on port security)...

The ONE and ONLY Iraqi division rated as battle ready without direct US support was downgraded.

Think about the implication of that for a minute.

I can think of only about 3 ways this could happen:

1. Too many of the troops in this division have been wounded or killed.

2. Their equipment has gone missing.

3. The troops have gone missing or refuse to fight against their own countrymen to put down the civil war.

If I had to pick, I would pick #3. And that means that the new army, along with the old army, are choosing up sides right now.

[lebkuchen]

5. w/the majority of Iraqis likening the US to "terrorist"

the US' plea for calm is about as useful as Bush w/an MBA.

[salin]

8. frightening implications

Given the current news, I would guess #3 as well.

Quagmire.

But unlike Vietnam - where our policies exacerbated and prolonged a quagmire, this one is completely of our (govt policies) own creation.

[salin]

6. Where is Karen Hughes?

She assured folks that all that was needed was a better, more rapid fire, marketing campaign. :eyes:

[lebkuchen]

12. Volunteering herself for The Front

of Cheney's line of fire?

If she has a conscience...

[salin]

14. After the big fan fare of her new position - and her first

abysmal (and incredibly embarassing) tour - she has all but disappeared. Perhaps you are on to something?

[lebkuchen]

22. Members of Bush's entourage remind me of most Vanity Fair covers

The shiny glossies of people I've never heard of, decorated by the best clothing, hair and makeup designers money can buy, look glamourous, glitzy, high class, and worthy of glorification, until you read that they're, like, nothing more than empty-headed addicts with parents unworthy of the title.

That's how I see Bush, and anyone remotely affiliated with him.

We've got to get some smart, mentally healthy people into government positions again. Bush and his covey of craven conspirators have no idea what they are doing, as Muslim women have already pointed out to Karen herself, and the US has suffered them as a result.

[Tin Man]

7. This report is important - DoD confirms insurgency gaining strength

"Insurgent attacks in Iraq reached a postwar high in the four months preceding Jan. 20"

After nearly 3 years of occupation, security in Iraq continues to get worse. Purple fingers, new schools, candy for the children - all have failed to promote security and/or reduce the risk to american troops. Operation Iraqi Freedom Iraqi Clusterfuck is an unqualified success, Mr. Bush.

[lebkuchen]

10. A Lt. Col. stationed in Iraq & quoted in today's Stripes agrees w/you.

“I’ve been very touchy about a civil war going on here,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Kunk, commander of the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne division, which oversees this city of more than 200,000 and the surrounding towns and villages.

“It used to be simmering, and now it is boiling,”

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?article=35308§ion=104

Now Bush has the USS Ronald Reagan in the area, "joining the battle in Iraq" by launching sorties and dropping ordinance on "the enemy." It's total escalation. How soon before Iran is provoked into attacking that aircraft carrier?

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?article=35308§ion=104

[leftchick]

21. god that is depressing

we should be pulling out and instead we are massacring more. :(

[Solly Mack]

9. and then even that number is being low-balled

back in 2003-2004, one camp alone got on average 17 attacks a day...that's one camp of soldiers and 17 separate attacks a day.

Now multiply 17 by 10, by 20, by 30 - by any number of places soldiers/troops are located.

that's 17 a day x 30/31 days for ONE camp of soldiers. That's 510/527 attacks in a month. ONE month.

Those attacks ranged from random sniper fire to persistent sniper fire that locked the camp down to explosions

17 a day.

Now, maybe the pentagon is just counting those attacks that are considered "major" - but I still say that's low-balling.

troop popularity was never high - if number of attacks is the measure by which popularity is determined.

This was during my husband's tour

[lebkuchen]

11. Conyers has asked for the real figures.

Do you think Rummy will ever provide them?

I hope your husband is not deployed now.

The nationwide curfew in Iraq was to end 4:00 p.m. Friday. It's still going on. Soldiers are not clear about what they are supposed to do w/Iraqis who violate curfew, with no clear orders provided them--Bush's SOP.

What a mess.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=35301

[dbt]

13. What's this "POSTWAR" shit?

I call Brainwash.

:freak:
dbt
Remember New Orleans

[bluestateguy]

15. Postwar what?

Please tell me that they are not still clinging to this notion that the war was "over" on April 9, 2003 when the Saddam statue came tumbling down, and that this is all just a postwar mopup. It's way too late for that.

When Lee surrendured at Appomotox, fighting lasted for another two months, not another 3 years.

[soup]

17. or maybe May 1st, 2003?

Mission Accomplished.


"Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/01/iraq/main551946.shtml

cheers applause USA USA USA

[lebkuchen]

19. That's what scares me about the "Ronald Reagan" being in the area

I can forsee Bush using it as a motivational prop against Iran: "Win one for the gipper," and all that BS.

Stars & Stripes had a front page headline about two weeks ago in HUGE RED CAPS: HOOAH!

which is a military expression for high morale, strength and confidence. The inside story showed a picture of Bush giving his "heil hitler" salute to a bevy of troops. It was very bizarro, and, to me, portended more policy disasters from the Master of, himself.

[soup]

16. Thank you for sharing this. Recommended.

Wondering how much coverage this report is going to get.
Here's an article from the WP -

U.S. Report on Iraqi Troops Is Mixed

By Robert Burns
Associated Press
Saturday, February 25, 2006; Page A13

The number of Iraqi army battalions judged by their American trainers to be capable of fighting insurgents without U.S. help has fallen from one to none since September, Pentagon officials said yesterday.>snip<

The report was written last week, before the bombing of a Shiite shrine and a wave of deadly reprisal attacks. It is the third in a series of reports that Congress requires from the Pentagon every three months.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/24/AR2006022401816.html

[lebkuchen]

30. I communicated w/a Stripes reporter during the initial Iraq elections

He told me then that the Iraqi military was FAR from being able to take control. Looks like their status hasn't changed much over time.

[Frank Cannon]

18. "Postwar"? WTF? Are we at war or not?

Because if we aren't, what the fuck are we still doing there? Why are our soldiers still getting killed and billions of dollars disappearing every day?

[leftchick]

20. An Excellent graphic from Frontline....

I am going to watch "The Insurgengy" today online....

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/insurgency/

[lebkuchen]

23. Thanks so much for that post!

I wish you could be here when Cindy arrives. :)

[leftchick]

25. I wish I could be there too!

Give her a hug for me. :hug: and here is one for you too... :hug:

[Warren Stupidity]

24. And yet nothing resembling this reality appears on the newz.

Neither the tv or the papers. Coverage of the war is almost nonexistent. Even when things go spectacularly wrong, as in this weeks developments, we have yesterday's phenomena of the NYT committing acts of revisionist re-editing worthy of the high stalinist era pravda. Civil war? Disappeared from the 'paper of record'.

[leftchick]

26. do you mean this one?

I posted this in LBN yesterday...

US Envoy in Baghdad Says Iraq Is on Brink of Civil War
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/24/international/middlee...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 25 - The American ambassador to Iraq said Friday that the country was on the precipice of full-scale civil war, and that Iraqi leaders would have to come together and compromise if they wanted to save their homeland.

The ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, made his remarks as sectarian fury in the streets appeared to ebb after two days of reprisals over the bombing of a major Shiite mosque. The violence prompted the most powerful Sunni Arab political group to suspend talks with Shiite and Kurdish politicians on forming a new government. "What we've seen in the past two days, the attack has had a major impact here, getting everyone's attention that Iraq is in danger," Mr. Khalilzad said in a conference call with reporters.

The country's leaders, he added, "must come together, they must compromise with each other to bring the people of Iraq together and save this country."

Mr. Khalilzad's comments are the most explicit acknowledgment so far by an American official of the instability of the situation, and the fragility of the entire American enterprise here. The killings and assaults across Iraq that began Wednesday have amounted to the worst sectarian violence since the American invasion.

[lebkuchen]

27. How close are we to evacuating the US army?

Or is the "ordinance dropping" from the USS Ronald Reagan going to make things all better? More "willie pete," perhaps?

The army LT COL's admittance on Friday that the civil war “used to be simmering, and now it is boiling,” is a rare admittance of policy failure amidst the usual optimistic blather seen in Stripes.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?article=35300§ion=104

Meanwhile, our military has its work cut out for it, inspecting caskets for possible weapons as they are carried about on Iraqi vehicles. Our soldiers are stretched way too thin.

[leftchick]

28. Apparently not close at all. The Iraqi Gov't. want the US in the streets

This is where the shit hits the fan just as Rep. Murtha predicted.....

<snip>

The gravest crisis since the U.S. invasion in 2003 threatens Washington's hopes of withdrawing its 136,000 troops from Iraq.

"If there is a civil war in this country it will never end," Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi, a minority Sunni Muslim in the Shi'ite-led interim government, told a news conference.

"We are ready to fill the streets with armored vehicles."

Iraq's 200,000-plus, U.S.-trained security forces have few tanks but U.S. forces, which routinely patrol Baghdad with heavy armor, are also standing by, commanders said. The loyalties of the untried police and Iraqi army could be tested in any clash with militias from which many were recruited.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/iraq_dc

[lebkuchen]

29. Well, somebody in the military has been talking to WF Buckley, Jr.

and hitting a nerve, for him to go out on a limb and declare that the US has been defeated in Iraq. That statement won't boost troop morale any, not to mention recruitment/reenlistment rates.

Maybe Col. Hackworth has been haunting Bill in his dreams?

[NYC]

33. Wm. F. Buckley: "It Didn't Work "

National Review

"I can tell you the main reason behind all our woes — it is America." The New York Times reporter is quoting the complaint of a clothing merchant in a Sunni stronghold in Iraq. "Everything that is going on between Sunni and Shiites, the troublemaker in the middle is America."

One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed. The same edition of the paper quotes a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Reuel Marc Gerecht backed the American intervention. He now speaks of the bombing of the especially sacred Shiite mosque in Samara and what that has precipitated in the way of revenge. He concludes that “The bombing has completely demolished” what was being attempted — to bring Sunnis into the defense and interior ministries...

One of these postulates, from the beginning, was that the Iraqi people, whatever their tribal differences, would suspend internal divisions in order to get on with life in a political structure that guaranteed them religious freedom.

The accompanying postulate was that the invading American army would succeed in training Iraqi soldiers and policymkers to cope with insurgents bent on violence.

This last did not happen. And the administration has, now, to cope with failure...

Mr. Bush has a very difficult internal problem here because to make the kind of concession that is strategically appropriate requires a mitigation of policies he has several times affirmed in high-flown pronouncements. His challenge is to persuade himself that he can submit to a historical reality without forswearing basic commitments in foreign policy...

Yes, but within their own counsels, different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgment of defeat.

http://www.nationalreview.com/buckley/buckley200602241451.asp

[lebkuchen]

34. Read it yesterday

and I don't think he came to that conclusion himself. I think generals or else lots of soldiers have been writing him and telling him what a disaster the US invasion has become. First they're told to bomb the shit out of Iraq, and now they're commanded to keep the peace. Mission impossible.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?article=35325§ion=104

[Gregorian]

31. WE ATTACKED THEM. THEY ARE DEFENDING THEMSELVES.

Silly Bush. He can't seem to tell the truth about anything. And the stupid media is no better than a trained parrot.
We attacked them. There is no other discussion. No Saddam. They never had WMD's. And so we simply flew our military in, and started bombing them for no reason. And they dare to defend themselves.

The only war going on is the war of words. WMD's, insurgents, terrorists... All phoney nonsense. And until Americans wake up, people other than Americans are going to be dealing with the business end of our military, that we the people are funding.

[lebkuchen]

32. CNNI had a long news spot on the US military in East Africa today

with Barbara Starr. She reported on how the US troops in East Africa were performing "strictly" humanitarian missions, like innoculating goat herds and showing the people how to use water pumps so that the poor locals could provide for themselves rather than having to rely on terrorism to earn a living. A military (female) medic explained that the military's humanitarian purpose was ultimately to prevent the US govt. from having to send another 130,000 troops to another country to rid IT of terrorists (like we're doing in Iraq), demonstrating, once again, what a WHORE corporation CNNI is, as it purposely peddled the myth that Iraq was responsible for 9-11.

Meanwhile, I was thinking of how that logic of "positive" intervention actually applies in the US, with the US government pushing its own poor toward terrorism of other countries by providing few jobs other than the military in order to earn a living.

[sakabatou]

35. Are they in their final throws, asshats?

Are they?