US Claims Insurgency in Check

[headscratcher4]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=4&u=/ap/20040122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

Violence in Iraq leave nine people dead

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=3&u=/ap/20040122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_insurgency_1

US Claims to have insurgency in check….



Good, ‘cause I’d be worried about the daily deaths if the insurgency were ragging on…reminds me of the Monty Python quote: "When I say there is no canabalism in the Royal Navy, I mean there is some...rather alot, really..."

When I say that the insurgency has been checked, I mean that the insurgency continues a'pace....

[shemp]

Yeah, yeah, the insurgency is dead. Those nine people, uh, they committed suicide! Suicide, yeah, that's it, that's the ticket!

[crackmonkey]

From what I gathered from the article, no one ever claimed that the insurgency was dead. It was said that important members of the insurgent groups to the north and northeast of Baghdad have been taken out of the picture... quite a differet thing than a proclamation that the insurgency has been checked.

[Andonyx]

whew!

That's a load off, now if we can just solve that pesky civil war risk:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7765415.htm


WASHINGTON - CIA officers in Iraq are warning that the country may be on a path to civil war, current and former U.S. officials said Wednesday, starkly contradicting the upbeat assessment that President Bush gave in his State of the Union address.

[headscratcher4]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=6&u=/ap/20040122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_living_in_fear

Fortunately, that insurgency is in check, or this might be problematic....

[Luke T.]

Originally posted by Andonyx
whew!

That's a load off, now if we can just solve that pesky civil war risk:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7765415.htm

[/B]

If we leave too soon, the civil war risk will be even greater.

[headscratcher4]

Originally posted by Luke T.


If we leave too soon, the civil war risk will be even greater.

Quite likely, indeed, likely to be civil war/conflict there no matter what we do. Pronouncements like "the insurgency has been checked..." however, hit my ear a little like those "there's light at the end of the tunnel..." pronouncements of 30 years ago. No matter how you cut it, we're going to have to be there a long, costly time, and it seems unlikely that the longer we stay the more they will grow to love us....

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by Luke T.


If we leave too soon, the civil war risk will be even greater.

Reminds me of that tag I see a lot here.

"Should I stay or should I go,
If I stay it will be bad,
If I go it will be worse,
Should I stay or should I go,
Should I stay of should I go."

Meanwhile, the collective of the unwilling watches on.

[Mr Manifesto]

Originally posted by a_unique_person


Reminds me of that tag I see a lot here.

"Should I stay or should I go,
If I stay it will be bad,
If I go it will be worse,
Should I stay or should I go,
Should I stay of should I go."

Meanwhile, the collective of the unwilling watches on.

It should be,

"Should I stay or should I go now...
Should I stay or should I go now...
If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double"

You'd think some people never heard 'The Clash'. Or whoever did the song originally.

[hgc]

Originally posted by Luke T.


If we leave too soon, the civil war risk will be even greater. Looks like Bush caught his own balls in a vice this time (no, I'm not referring to the flight suit!). On the one hand, if U.S. troops are still dying in Iraq on a nearly daily basis come November, he's going to have to answer for that. So he's trying to skidaddle by the summer. But then he'd have to answer as to how Iraqis are better off from this war when many of them will be dying in a civil war.

At least the real commander-in-chief, Cheney, will be sticking around to go down in flames with him.

[crackmonkey]

Jeezus... at least quote the article correctly...

WASHINGTON - U.S. forces have "brought to their knees" the former Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) regime holdouts who formed the backbone of the anti-occupation insurgency in areas north and northeast of Baghdad, the American commander responsible for security in that region said Thursday.

[Luke T.]

Originally posted by headscratcher4


Quite likely, indeed, likely to be civil war/conflict there no matter what we do. Pronouncements like "the insurgency has been checked..." however, hit my ear a little like those "there's light at the end of the tunnel..." pronouncements of 30 years ago. No matter how you cut it, we're going to have to be there a long, costly time, and it seems unlikely that the longer we stay the more they will grow to love us....

I think the Bush administration does not intend to stay for as long as it takes. And so you get the "insurgency is in check" rhetoric as a prelude to departure.

The Middle East knows that their way of life is outdated, but they can't find a way out that they can live with. There will be bloodshed there for a long time to come. It is unavoidable. Maybe this push toward democracy and away from tribalism will work, maybe not. But something has to give sooner or later.

[Andonyx]

Originally posted by Luke T.


If we leave too soon, the civil war risk will be even greater.

Oh I agree one hundred percent.

One of the only things I agree with without reservation in the way we have handled the conflict is that for better or worse, we're there, we're responsible, and like it or not, the fate of the nation of Iraq is now inextricably tied to the political future of the US. We cannot leave now, nor do I advocate it. Bush is right to say we cannot give up now.

Some politicians didn't support the war...fine.

Some did...fine.

What irks me are those who were initially in favor of it, and now want to pull out when it's become a political liability. You can't have it both ways. Once you make the bed, you have to lie in it.


What I don't like is putting a happy face on the way things are going, focusing on the positive is one thing, but ignoring the negative will only come back to bite everyone in the butt.