“The “Petraeus Curve” has exposed defeatists in Britain and the US, and as a result, no one wants to talk about the obvious and significant progress being made in Iraq. “
Captain Ed had that to say about this Times Of London aritcle, via Memeorandum:
In Iraq, it seems good news is deemed no news. There has been striking success in the past few months in the attempt to improve security, defeat al-Qaeda sympathisers and create the political conditions in which a settlement between the Shia and the Sunni communities can be reached. This has not been an accident but the consequence of a strategy overseen by General David Petraeus in the past several months. While summarised by the single word “surge” his efforts have not just been about putting more troops on the ground but also employing them in a more sophisticated manner. This drive has effectively broken whatever alliances might have been struck in the past by terrorist factions and aggrieved Sunnis. Cities such as Fallujah, once notorious centres of slaughter, have been transformed in a remarkable time. ….
The current achievements, and they are achievements, are being treated as almost an embarrassment in certain quarters. The entire context of the contest for the Democratic nomination for president has been based on the conclusion that Iraq is an absolute disaster and the first task of the next president is to extricate the United States at maximum speed. ….All of these attitudes have become outdated. There are many valid complaints about the manner in which the Bush Administration and Donald Rumsfeld, in particular, managed Iraq after the 2003 military victory. But not to recognise that matters have improved vastly in the year since Mr Rumsfeld’s resignation from the Pentagon was announced and General Petraeus was liberated would be ridiculous. Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic have to appreciate that Iraq is no longer, as they thought, an exercise in damage limitation but one of making the most of an opportunity.
In my opinion, people in the U.S. have a vested interest in failure. In order to accept that things are turning around, would be to admit that Bush is succeeding…He is. His detractors fail to realize that this is a major victory for our military. Let’s keep in mind that this is a war being fought against an enemy that doesn’t represent a country, but an ideology. Our military is fighting the man on the street, with no uniform to identify them. We have been tested in various forms of warfare, and slowly we are meeting the challenge. This is good news, and the media should be airing this!
I can’t wait to hear Harry’s reaction to this!
James Clyburn was right. Victory in Iraq is a very big problem for the party of defeat. The cheese-eating surrender monkey has replaced the jackass as the party’s symbol.
That is not an improvement.
The bottom line of the editorial is the bottomline of the war: “The instinct of too many people is that if Iraq is going badly we should get out because it is going badly and if it is getting better we should get out because it is getting better. This is a catastrophic miscalculation. Iraq is getting better. That is good, not bad, news.”
Imagine if you will an editorial from a major American newspaper entitled “The Petraeus Curve: Serious Success in Iraq is Not Being Recognised as it Should Be.”
Think such a thing would ever be published by the New York Times, the Washington Post, or any of the drive-by media?
No, I don’t either.
Yet, The Times of London, one of the most respected newspapers across the Pond, published such a shocking commentary Saturday, and it should be a must-read for liberal media members throughout America refusing to recognize the improving conditions in Iraq
Based on the blog reaction at memeorandum, I’m guessing the liberals are burying their heads, hoping this goes away
November 4, 2007 - 05:38 PM on November 4th, 2007
Hey! What’s wrong with eatin’ cheese?
I get the drift tho! I just hope the good folks over “there” don’t stop lookin’ over their shoulders! Now is NOT the time to get complacent!
In fact no news about the fact it is “All Quiet on the Eastern Front” may be a good thing, as the crazies won’t be able brag about snatching the “good times.”
Go Troops!
November 5, 2007 - 09:11 AM on November 5th, 2007
Good news is bad news for Democrites. They staked their future on defeat. Now it is time to ensure utter defeat…for the Democrites…
But let’s get Conservatives back where they belong…in charge. Either the Republicans get back to basics or dump them too.
November 6, 2007 - 02:31 PM on November 6th, 2007
Not out of the woods yet by any measure.
2007 is the deadliest year for American troops in Iraq.
More of our troops are dying and being wounded, and you are saying things are getting better?
very strange…
November 6, 2007 - 07:26 PM on November 6th, 2007
“More of our troops are dying and being wounded, and you are saying things are getting better?”
Not true at all. All of the available evidence points to the contrary.
November 6, 2007 - 10:38 PM on November 6th, 2007
Wrong.
“2007 Is Deadliest Year for U.S. Troops in Iraq”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/world/middleeast/07iraq.html?em&ex=1194498000&en=18544b95aef6c6d6&ei=5087
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2206243,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
November 7, 2007 - 12:33 AM on November 7th, 2007
SFL, please, you are talking to adults, and not products of the public school system. The change in tactics, engineered and managed by Gen. Petraeus, started late in the year, and since then, can you tell us what the result has been? Has it been “More of our troops are dying and being wounded…” as you stated?
No, it has not. Ergo you are WRONG.
November 7, 2007 - 10:07 AM on November 7th, 2007
No, actually Robert I am right.
I said that “more US troops are dying and being wounded”.
Look at the numbers, man.
It’s 100% true.
MORE troops died in 2007 than in any of the previous year.
There simply is NO WAY around these facts.
So, what I said was correct – see the links provided.
The change in tactics brought higher troop death and injury, as we got their asses off the remote bases and into city blocks.
More Deaths.
More being wounded.
The numbers don’t lie, Robert.
November 7, 2007 - 10:20 AM on November 7th, 2007
You are both right and wrong.
It is true that looking at things long term, casualties are up over any other year in 2007. This is this where SFL is coorect.
It is also true that since “The Patraeus Curve” began, it appears that causalities are down over the short term and this strategy may be working. This is where Robert is correct.
We do not know with any certainty if this strategy is, as it has not been tested ove the long term. Using this as an indicator, one can not make any supposition over the future long term though. At this point, we will have to see if the trend coninues over the long term. This is where you are both wrong. One can not ignore the short term nor long term trends in favor of what ever view you hold. It is not being completely truthful to the situation.
Have you guys ever really looked at the stridency in which you examine and express yourselves? You make Conservatives and Liberals look like cymbal clanging carnival monkeys.
November 7, 2007 - 01:43 PM on November 7th, 2007
Well excuse me for being passionate about this Nation and it’s future. I guess I can also say I have done my part for it with 18 years combined service in the Army National Guard (Infantry, enlisted) and the U.S. Army Reserve (Officer). I also have over 7000 hours of volunteer work in Law Enforcement over the last 20 years putting my life on the line and serving my community.
I don’t mean this as an insult to you ted; i think I know where you are coming from and I don’t know who you are or what you have done with your life.
I am simply explaining my bcakground and reason for being passionate about my beliefs.
I cannot stand seeing degenerate, selfish, scumbag politicians of any stripe destroying what so many have paid for with blood. And by my reckoning the modern Democrite party and it’s less than wortheless leadership and the maggots who support them are the rost of the sordid lot and at this point are as great a danger to the nation I love as the terorists are.
November 7, 2007 - 01:44 PM on November 7th, 2007
And maybe one day I’ll get just as passionate about proofreading and spell checking…
November 7, 2007 - 01:45 PM on November 7th, 2007
“The change in tactics brought higher troop death and injury, as we got their asses off the remote bases and into city blocks.”
100% WRONG.
November 7, 2007 - 02:51 PM on November 7th, 2007
9.
Robert-
There is nothing wrong at all with being passionate about your country, but you can not let your passion stand in the way of facts. When that happens, passion distorts the facts and transmutes them into half truths and sometimes even lies. That serves no one.
You have every right to be optimistic about Petraeus strategy in Iraq becasue so far it seems to be working. However, before you can delcare it a done deal you should wait and see what happens over 2008.
Besides the troop casualulty rate here is not the issue, because as far as conflicts go the rate isn’t really that bad. The issue is quelling the violence and providing security so that a politcal solution my be allowed to set forth.
“The change in tactics brought higher troop death and injury, as we got their asses off the remote bases and into city blocks.”
Do you have any proof of these assertions?
November 7, 2007 - 05:08 PM on November 7th, 2007
Ted, ok, fair enough but again I was talking about the numbers since the Petraeus strategy was implemented.
That quote was from SFL. It is asinine, and wrong as evidenced by the data.
November 7, 2007 - 08:59 PM on November 7th, 2007
Here’s a link…
Look at the graph. The summer months during the strategy change saw the biggest peaks. Thankfully, the last two months have been better for our troops than previous months.
As a side note, look at the graph as a whole. You can see there is a gradual buildup of casualties from 2003 to the present.
http://icasualties.org/oif/US_chart.aspx
—-
The whole point of me saying what I said and then posting this was only to counter Roberts assertations in #2 and #4 that said things are getting better.
As the data shows, 2007 is so far the worst year and that overall casualties are increasing.
Not good.
November 7, 2007 - 09:01 PM on November 7th, 2007
More…
http://icasualties.org/oif/Cumulative.aspx
November 7, 2007 - 09:13 PM on November 7th, 2007
“Thankfully, the last two months have been better for our troops than previous months.”
Fine, thanks to see you admitting what everyone else already knows.
November 8, 2007 - 08:32 AM on November 8th, 2007
“The summer months during the strategy change saw the biggest peaks.”
Key words here being “during the strategy change”. The strategy was not in place and fully implemented.
Robert is correct in his assertion regarding the short term effect and that things getting better.