Surged To Death
Since the beginning of the Mr. Bush’s Surge in Iraq, 1,000 US soldiers have died, almost a quarter of all US fatalities. As has been revealed of late, there was considerable opposition to the Surge among prominent US military leaders. While the President has routinely claimed that he ‘listens to the commanders on the ground’, the Surge was anything but a military request. It was a White House driven directive that did not take into consideration the opinions of the Joint Chiefs, nor commanders in Iraq itself. It was a politically motivated move aimed at altering domestic perceptions of the war.
In the year that has followed, many in the media, and the White House, have claimed the Surge a success. Even the outgoing commander of all US forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, testified before Congress that the Surge had achieved many of its goals. But while overall violence is down in Iraq, the Surge cannot realistically take credit for it.
Despite claims that support the Surge’s success, it is first important to remember that the Sunni insurgency against occupational forces was diminished not by US efforts, but by the growing strength and influence of Shia militias. Secondly, it is important to remember that Sunnis only constitute 20% of Iraq’s population that the Iraqi government, and a variety of its ministries, are predominantly controlled by Shi’ites and, in some cases, are highly influenced or have been infiltrated by Shia militias. This is the primary reason why the Sunni Awakening occurred and why its leaders allied themselves directly with the US rather than the Iraqi government. As an aside, the Awakening was also a move on the part of tribal leaders, former nationalists and Ba’athists, to diminish the influence that ‘al-Qaeda in Iraq’ had gained in some Sunni communities. In truth, the Sunni Awakening did little more than take advantage of US financial support so that the afore mentioned tribal leaders could consolidate power and work to regain the influence that they had lost.
Iraq remains the world’s most dangerous country. One in every six Iraqis is a refugee – that’s approximately 4.7 million people. Some have fled to other countries, some have fled to less dangerous parts of Iraq. Today, a suicide bomber blew herself up at a police gathering in Balad Ruz, killing 22 people and wounding 32 more. In Baghdad, two car bombs also exploded killing 12.
There are two fundamental lessons that the West has been gifted over the last 60 years, though has still failed to learn. The first is that ‘winning hearts and minds’ is nothing more than a catch phrase. The second is that throwing conventional force into an asymmetric fire does not produce results.
Want to bookmark or share this entry?
This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 3:06 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
“winning hearts and minds” is indeed a catch phrase too used today; not unlike “Axis of Evil” pff…
what i wanna know is, how long before this same exact post is written about our troops in afghanistan?
Harper says no more boots on the ground after 2011; however, i seem to recall the same sort of thing being said down south and well, look what happened there…i like how the government can forecast when a war will be “won” but cant seem to forecast the weather for one day in alberta…
sigh…we all pay for this bullshit, in one form or another.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
oh and another phrase that came to mind is “loose lips sink ships” a la WWI and II…oh and “BUY WAR BONDS!”
September 15th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
The U.S. is incapable of learning.
“Taking a Hard Look at a Hard Mission” - the 2007 report on Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan is somewhat interesting to read.
The Department of National Defense::
The Afghan people are relying on the international community to help them rebuild their lives and their country after having suffered through decades of instability, oppression and insurgency. By supporting the rebuilding of institutions such as independent courts, police and an army, Canada is on the ground laying the
foundation for Afghans to govern themselves and secure a better future.
Canada has shown leadership by committing troops, resources, development and political effort to help the Afghan government secure a better future for its people. We have made a commitment to
the Afghan people and we will stand by that commitment.”
If Canada is to get out of there by 2011, the mission will fail. And, as sad as it sounds, with all the civilian casualties, it stopped being a mission of commitment to the people a long time ago.
September 15th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
At the risk of sounding sarcastic, I have to ask: what is this “victory is within sight” that Sarah Palin and McCain mentioned in their speeches at the RNC? Really, is it within sight? How so?
September 15th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Matty,
Your comment/fact on 1 in 6 iraqi is a refugee is breath taking and a sit back and think how many that really is(4.7 milllion). WOW- then i think about my killier time in bala rocking out to ‘weapon’ just enjoying it to the max - Yes it was me on the step by the bar. But in reality when you look at the big picture i would give that night up in a second for one of those iraqis to enjoy a night like that like i did - THAT WEAPON WAS BIG BUT….WHAT IS BIG?
September 15th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
[quote comment="65259"]At the risk of sounding sarcastic, I have to ask: what is this “victory is within sight” that Sarah Palin and McCain mentioned in their speeches at the RNC? Really, is it within sight? How so?[/quote]
At the risk of being even more sarcastic: Bush proclaimed victory several times already, and know, when Palin and McCain bend over backwards, they can see the victory from behind.
September 15th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
At the risk of being even more sarcastic-er. You both forget that Sarah Palin has super sight and can see Russia from her house….
September 16th, 2008 at 9:48 am
The Green Party is willing to pull troops out by February. One of the reasons the top 3 parties were so hell-bent on not allowing Elizabeth May to speak in the national debate. It’s no coincidence that the Vice Presidential debate is the same night, in my opinion. I believe it’s even head-to-head.
September 16th, 2008 at 10:19 am
The slowdown in deaths can also be attributed to the fact that they’re simply running out of people to kill.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Lowell Green, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin etc always makes think of something the good Doctor once wrote called “The Hammerhead Shark”
Here’s an excerpt:
“John Wayne is a final, rotten symbol of everything that went wrong with the American Dream - he is our Frankenstein monster, a hero to millions. Wayne is the ultimate & perhaps final “American”. He beats the mortal shit out of anything he can’t understand. The brainwave of “The Duke” are like those of the Hammerhead Shark - a beast so stupid and irrationally vicious that scientists have abandoned all hope of dealing with it, except as an unexplainable “throwback”. The Hammerhead, they say, is no different today than he was in One Million B.C. He is ruthless, stupid beast with only one instinct - to attack, to hurt & cripple & kill. There is no evidence in modern science that the Hammerhead Shark had any ancestors - and no descendants, either. But science is at least half-wrong on this count. Like many another species, the Hammerhead survived by moving to a new habitat. The most advanced of them came out of the sea and learned to walk on land. They learned to speak American - despite their tiny brains… ”
Sound familiar?
Kill what you don’t understand
Fear all things new or different
The bonus is, these people are in a public forum. We know who they are and exactly what their agenda is. It’s the ones we don’t know about until it’s to late that we need to worry about.
Before the year 2000, who here had honestly, ever heard of The Project for the New American Century???
September 16th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Maybe if we pooled our money together we could hire Blackwater to capture the dangerous criminals hiding in White House?
September 17th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Here’s my point of view. Osama Bin Laden won the War. What war? The War on Western economies that Bin Laden declared in 2001. This article explains why much more eloquently then I could ever express.
Is it time to commence Peace talks?
September 17th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
As per CIA, Osama started out as a freedom fighter, supported all the way. The U.S. has always been toying around with Afghanistan (especially) and with surrounding countries submerging themselves in drug trade etc. all for the reasons of protecting markets and defending their own superiority.
Time to pay up some more. I would say though that had it not been for George Bush, his inability to control his “subordinates” and his unwillingness to read important documents before signing them , the U.S. would not be where it is now.