Holy Diver

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/...023866,00.html

US commanders admit: we face a Vietnam-style collapse
Elite officers in Iraq fear low morale, lack of troops and loss of political will

Simon Tisdall
Thursday March 1, 2007
The Guardian

An elite team of officers advising the US commander, General David Petraeus, in Baghdad has concluded that they have six months to win the war in Iraq - or face a Vietnam-style collapse in political and public support that could force the military into a hasty retreat.
The officers - combat veterans who are experts in counter-insurgency - are charged with implementing the "new way forward" strategy announced by George Bush on January 10. The plan includes a controversial "surge" of 21,500 additional American troops to establish security in the Iraqi capital and Anbar province.

But the team, known as the "Baghdad brains trust" and ensconced in the heavily fortified Green Zone, is struggling to overcome a range of entrenched problems in what has become a race against time, according to a former senior administration official familiar with their deliberations.
"They know they are operating under a clock. They know they are going to hear a lot more talk in Washington about 'Plan B' by the autumn - meaning withdrawal. They know the next six-month period is their opportunity. And they say it's getting harder every day," he said.

PressCoverage

this is why it's now the scariest time... because support and will is waning to a new nadir.... so because of that, the desperate neocons will do whatever is left at their disposal to ignite something bigger in the region...

someone hinted recently about an intentional sinking of one of our aging carriers right there in the Gulf? pin it on Iran, whallah!.... The next 60-90 days are crucial days in America... no doubt about it...

"The ideological architecture of a Christian fascism is being cemented in place. The movement has roused its followers to a fever pitch of despair and fury. All it will take... is one more national crisis on the order of Sept. 11 for the Christian Right to make a concerted drive to destroy American democracy. The movement awaits a crisis. (We are) reminded the dangers liberal, democratic societies face when they tolerate the intolerant." -- forward to Chris Hedges' "American Fascists"...

Holy Diver

Thats the only way I can see our country being dragged into an Iranian conflict (WW3) .... False Flag/Gulf of Tonkin/Operation Northwoods...

It seems to me that this administration crying wolf in Iraq, added with leaked information of airstaikes to strategic targets has left the plan to attack Iran impotent. They may need another trigger, an attack on the military or worse...another 9-11.

All_Around_Brown

The surge is being met with a predictable response: the militias may be playing possum and waiting this out.

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Real World

All the while violence and deaths are down by more than 50% from December to February. Is that a bad thing? Arrests are taking place at a high rate, weapons cache's are being uncovered, and the people are back on the streets with less and less fear. You sound disappointed.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

PressCoverage

and you sound naive... and just like Glenn Beck from yesterday... did i mention you love this war, always have? oh...

deaths are down because the Shia have gone underground (for now)... anyhow, put some substance behind your words and link to evidence that "arrests are taking place at a high rate" and "weapons cache's are being uncovered" at an increased rate since the "escalation".... or will you be once again hiding behind "i did months ago, if you can't read, i'm sorry" or something equally lame and dismissive... ?

wistahpatsfan

That's great news, RW!
Can the troops come home yet, or do they have to stay until every Iraqi is driving an Exsalade and living on a cul-de-sac McMansion?

If what you say is true, and I think you beklieve it is, then why are our troops still getting killed there? When does Real World call for the withdrawal?

Real World

www.mudvillegazette.com

www.mudvillegazette.com/milblogs

Enjoy!

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

Real World

I've talked about this for months and months. I told you I thought the surge would happen before it did. Regardless of how it works out, the force size will have to be reduced by the very beginning of '08. IMO. Troops in a war zone will always die just like cops in the inner city. When a cop dies does it mean that the police are failing? Will you ever eradicate police losses in a crime rampant area? No. So stating that troops are dying, and thus progress is not being made, is not logical.

Anyways...

Feb 27, 5:30 PM EST


Iraqi Officials Say Crackdown Working

By KIM GAMEL
Associated Press Writer


BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The Baghdad security operation has been under way less than three weeks, but it has already registered a success: a sharp drop in the number of bullet-riddled bodies found in the streets - victims of sectarian death squads.

The number of bodies found so far this month in Baghdad - most of them shot and showing signs of torture - has dropped by nearly 50 percent to 494 as of Monday night, compared with 954 in January and 1,222 in December, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...02-27-09-05-22

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

Real World

I don't love any war, but I do love my country, and care about what happens in Iraq. Unlike you, who wants to see his country fail, I don't. How someone can not come away from your position without the idea that you want bad news is beyond me. Would I be wrong to think that you want the surge to fail? Why would you want it to succeed?

Let me put my position this way. Randy Moss/Terrel Owens is rumored to be coming to the PAtriots. I don't like either, and don't want them on my team. Sure, they could help the team, but at what cost? Bottom line, if it comes down to aquiring one or passing, I'll pass thank you very much. BB decides otherwise and picks on of them up. Well, what do I do now? Hope the Pats loose? Hope that the guys stinks and it hurts my favorite team? Or do I still hope good things happen, with the best possible ending?

I'm guessing you'd hope the team loses.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897