Via the Instapundit, this ABC piece by Terry McCarthy, showing pockets of improvement and rays of hope in Iraq. While maintaining that Baghdad is an extremely dangerous place, it is fair to note that there certainly has been a slight improvement in some place, although that is most likely temporary.
And that is what is so insane about McCain’s remarks, and what Michael Ware essentially said (although there are still apparently some who want Ware fired because someone giggled during a press conference). McCain could have maintained a deal of credibility and still pushed the positive aspects of the surge by simply stating ‘things are getting better.” But he didn’t and, well, you know the rest.
Regardless, Baghdad still is not safe, and I have no faith that the surge, which will end soon (as it will have to- a surge, by definition, can not be sustained forever, particularly with the military at the breaking point), will change anything in the longterm, if indeed it has really even changed anything in the short term. The violence has just moved, the targets and methods of murder just slightly different. And I do not see that changing anytime soon.
Pb
That’s one way to look at it–here’s another:
Lots of good info there, actually; read the whole thing.
she speaks!
Given the aftermath of McCain’s market visit I would question the wisdom of drawing attention to any areas experiencing a taste of normalcy.
Dreggas
See here’s the idiocy of the “surge”. First of all Bush wants to sit there and say that any time line just telegraphs our next move to “the enemy” well he telegraphed the damn surge to them. Further he telegraphed it straight to the militias by telling the Iraqi gov’t.
So what happens? Just before the glorious surge(TM), Sadr and company leave dodge. The end result? Things look a bit better but the reality is the militias are just waiting until the surge is over to come back full force with the backing of the so-called government.
It’s like being able to somehow communicate with cockroaches and telling them you called the Orkin man, they’ll run and hide to avoid getting gassed but be right back when the gas is gone.
This will happen until either A) the militias are wiped out, which given how these things work is all but impossible or B) we suck it up and accept the inevitable fact that no matter what we do we cannot un-fuck this situation that does not violate every convention (geneva or otherwise) and not contain the word genocide (note I am not saying we do that). The best we can do is call the surge a premature ejaculation, pull out, wipe it off, say I’m sorry and hope the bitch don’t get pregnant and come after us (ie attack us in the future) for child support.
Rome Again
Wasn’t it Three Dog Night that said “e-lies are coming?”
Dreggas
sorry, and somewhat OT but BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Zifnab
We’ve got a rather big army in Iraq. I imagine we don’t even really need to tell anyone anything. When the number of troops marching through Bagdad suddenly jumps by a factor of 20%, people will automatically notice.
What Bush doesn’t want to telegraph is his budget, his long-term agenda, and the giant middle finger he wants to give the country after getting slapped in the mid-term elections. All this “but you’re giving the terrorists information” bullshit is a rather lame attempt to mark war planning as classified information. Much in the same way that “why don’t we let the Generals run the war” is a pathetic way of covering for his own disasterous mismanagment.
We live in a Democracy and for a Democracy to run smoothly, you can’t have your government living under a cloud of secrecy. What Bush is trying to claim is that oversight loses wars. I think the inverse of that statement has been proven completely false.
Dreggas
Now that I think about it all I can think of is the scene from Blackhawk down when the “villagers” on the hill used a cell phone to tip off Aidid that Americans were coming.
Perry Como
Fixed that for you.
The Other Steve
We’re playing whack a mole.
I was listening last week to an interview with the mayor of some town Bush mentioned as being free and clear of violence a year ago.
The mayor said, they’re back… Apparently US forces simply pushed the bad guys out of Baghdad, and now they’re causing trouble elsewhere.
I forget the city name now, I’ll look it up later but I have to go to dinner now.
raff
Some questions:
Was McCain slated for an Iraq visit before his, er, “unfortunate” comments? Or was this trip a taxpayer-subsidized photo-op to save face? How much does a trip like that even cost?
What was the effect of pulling troops, vehicals & choppers from their usual duties?
Was there any other purpose for this visit other than as a face-saving measure for McCain (& the overall “things are going great in Iraq” narrative)?
Insurgents lobbed a 1/2 dozen mortars into the market barely an hour after McCain had left. Targeted killings have been occuring in the market since McCain’s visit. Is this an attempt to embarrass McCain by a group(or groups) of people that have no respect for human life? Does McCain understand that even just talking to Americans, let alone a presidential candidate is like signing your own death warrant for an Iraqi citizen?
So McCain stages a photo-op at the cost of taxpayer dollars, military resources & Iraqi lives just to prove a point… & ultimately ends up disproving his point. I doubt McCain will survive the primaries, but he certainly is the sprititual successor to George Bush.
Tsulagi
Pretty much. This time it seems part of it has moved to the Diyala province…
But since there aren’t many giggling reporters in Diyala, mission accomplished. Also, if The Surge isn’t doing quite as well as hoped months from now, maybe McCain can do the patented “No one could ever have imagined…” favored by Bush Republicans.
Yep, couldn’t have been predicted. Nothing to base it on say like this almost two years ago…
Petraeus is about as good as you can get for this type of warfare. But, he doesn’t have anywhere near the troops necessary to lock down the entire country. That would be the only thing that could stop the inevitable for a while.
Without that, we will do what we have done since Saddam’s statue fell….slow bleed until GWB leaves office so he can hand the sack of shit his admin created to the next guy then blame him. He’s the model of Republican personal responsibility and accountability.
jg
Everytime I hear or read ‘surge’ I think of a Mountain Dew knock-off and the lame commercials that advertised it.
ThymeZone
Surge? At my age, a surge is a good reason to make a doctor appointment. Or at least check the medicine cabinet so make sure we are not running out of Immodiem.
Besides, by objective measure, the situation in Iraq is worse in March than it was in February. More of the same.
Bush today just rolled the calendar back two years. World better without blah blah blah. 911 blah blah blah.
It’s like we are stuck in a bad movie and the concession stand is closed.
tBone
Edited for accuracy.
DougJ
Count me skeptical on stuff like this when it comes out of ABC. Their strategy seems to be to become the new Fox News.
Rome Again
OMG, what a thought!
Rome Again
Every time I hear surge, I think of Adolph Hitler wanking off and coming all over the map.
(okay, I admit that was a bit “ugly”)
Chad N. Freude
Every time I hear “surge”, I think of the Sumatran tsunami in 2004.
Krista
I think of the English pronounciation of the French name “Serge”, which is what my name would have been had I been born a boy.
Pb
Nice–I like that even better than the balloon analogy. Nothin’ Says Lovin’ Like The Pillsbury Insurgency, Hmmm-hmmm!
Pb
And for what it’s worth, here’s another account–try to imagine writing a (semi-)regular diary that sounds like this, normal events interspersed with the kidnappings, arrests, or killings of friends or co-workers, the gunfights and shellings, etc., etc… (and then of course multiply that by several million).
searp
It seems to me that the next question is what happens when the surge recedes? It will at some point, if it is a surge and not an indefinite commitment.
The plan must be to have Iraqi forces replace the Americans – counterinsurgency takes a long time. Where are those forces? If this is a serious plan, those forces ought to already be identified. Take the Prez at his word – and then ask the questions. Petraeus is an honest guy, ask him.
I bet they do not have Iraqi forces identified.
Pug
If Michael Ware did indeed laugh at John McCain, and that’s a big if, it is about time. It’s time somebody laughed in the face of one of these liars while they are lying.
The next time G.W. tells a whopper at a press conference the entire press corps should just laugh at him. They should laugh and boo and give him a big Bronx cheer.
Chad N. Freude
The word “surge” is Bushspeak for “indefinite commitment”. If you don’t start studying more, you’ll never pass the course in Orwellian languages.
Rome Again
I made use of a Pillsbury Doughboy insurgency once, when I was pregnant I went to a holloween party as good ole pilly and won $100.00… the surge was great for my wallet.
Rome Again
Mine would have been Brook, they told me so.
Andrew
What a coincidence! I would be “Serge” too!
CDB
The push to surge has killed at least one.
“Zeimer arrived at Fort Stewart on Dec. 18 after basic training and deployed to Iraq just a few weeks later. He missed the brigade’s intensive four-week mission rehearsal in October when more than 1,300 trainers and Iraqi role-players came to the post as part of the most realistic training program the Army offers for Iraq operations.
“Well, but they can get desert training elsewhere, like in Iraq. ”
– Tony Snow
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003567503