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Pelosi credits “Iran’s Goodwill” for Iraq Surge success
2008-05-29 23:44:00 Nevermind the report from Patraeus that Iran is supplying the insurgency and engaging in direct combat with American soldiers. A reprehensible statement, especially for the families who’ve lost loved ones at the hands of Iranian forces in Iraq. Shame shame shame…. SFGate (via Commentary Magazine) In an interview yesterday with the San Francisco Chronicle, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi claimed the U.S. troop surge failed to accomplish its goal. She then partially credited the success of the troop surge to “the goodwill of the Iranians,” claiming that they were responsible for ending violence in the southern city of Basra. Asked if she saw any evidence of the surge’s positive impact on her May 17 trip to Iraq she responded: Well, the purpose of the surge was to provide a secure space, a time for the political change to occur to accomplish the reconciliation. That didn’t happen. Whatever the military success, and progress that may have been made, the surge didn...
Rep Ron Paul: Gen Petraeus Iraq Surge Hearing
2008-04-10 02:54:00 Liberty Central- Conservatism's Blog of Choice
Bush?s version of Iraq surge success misleading
2008-02-04 05:39:00 George Bush’s version of troop surge success leaves many details missing. The reality is now we’ve armed both sides of the religious groups, many people are homeless, many children orphaned, and more. The following, from The Real News, explains what is happening:
By: What's Going On
Is The Iraq Surge Working?
2007-12-31 17:33:00 The government suggests that it is. In truth, this has been the deadliest year for our troops, 899 souls lost. Bradley Brooks, AP writer, reports that: “Two critical shifts that boosted U.S.-led forces in 2007 ? a self-imposed cease-fire by a main Shiite militia and a grassroots Sunni revolt against extremists.” It appears that the current administration ...
By: What's Going On
Iraq Surge Displaced a Million to Syria
2007-12-20 15:50:00 The news from Iraq is so controlled, we may never know the consequences of the American invasion. But even the surge seems to have hurt more civilians than anyone. Informed Comment The US troop escalation that began last February seems to be implicated in the displacement of over one million Iraqis to Syria between March and October of this year, adding to the nearly 450,000 that fled there in 2006. This is according to projections from a United Nations weighted survey of nearly 800 refugees. Some 78% of those interviewed in Syria said that they came from Baghdad. Many of the refugees are from the white collar middle class, and are the people Iraq can least afford to lose. Most of them are only 3 months or less from exhausting all their saving and being thrown into complete destitution. Children are not being educated, and literacy is falling dramatically in the next generation. Many girls are forced into 'survival sex,' i.e. prostitution. How the US 'surge' drove one milli...
Australian perspective on Iraq Surge strategy
2007-12-18 17:50:00 Awwww. BY any measure, the US-led surge has been little short of a triumph. The number of American military fatalities has been reduced sharply, as has the carnage of Iraqi civilians; Baghdad as a city is functioning again; oil output is above where it stood in March 2003 but at a far stronger price a barrel; and, the acid test, many of those who fled to Syria and Jordan are returning home. The cheering must be accompanied by caveats, of course. Security certainly has improved,... ...The British once boasted about the virtues of a softly-softly style, allegedly honed in Northern Ireland, but the truth is that the British forces have been so softly-softly that the local militias long ago decided they were not very serious about using their troops to exercise influence. (more here)
By: Asymmetric
Interactive feature: Iraq surge
2007-09-09 20:06:00 General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, is to present to Congress his long-awaited assessement of the military 'surge' in Iraq, in which five additional combat brigades were deployed.
By: Get rich
Big Lies Surround the Iraq "Surge"
2007-09-05 17:04:00 AlterNet: Juan Cole The average number of Iraqis killed in 2007 per day exceeds those killed in 2006. Independent counts by news organizations do not agree with Pentagon estimates about drops in civilian deaths over-all. Nation-wide attacks in June reached a daily all-time high of 177.5. True, violence in Baghdad has been wrestled back down to the levels of summer, 2006 (hint: it wasn't paradise), but violence levels are up in the rest of the country. If you compare each month in 2006 with each month in 2007 with regard to US military deaths, the 2007 picture is dreadful. Here are the US troop death via Icasualties.org. 8-2007 77 8-2006 65 7-2007 79 7-2006 43 6-2007 101 6-2006 61 5-2007 126 5-2006 69 4-2007 104 4-2006 76 3-2007 81 3-2006 31 2-2007 81 2-2006 55 1-2007 83 1-2006 62 I mean, how brain dead do the Bushies think we are, peddling this horse manure that US troop deaths have fallen? (There ar...
Iraq 'surge' gets mixed report
2007-07-12 13:09:00 Iraq has experienced a substantial drop in civilians killed or injured by sectarian violence and car bombs, the White House says in a key report to be released today.
By: Get rich
Iraq 'surge' gets mixed report
2007-07-12 13:09:00 Iraq has experienced a substantial drop in civilians killed or injured by sectarian violence and car bombs, the White House says in a key report to be released today.
By: Get rich
More Time Needed to Assess Effectiveness of Iraq Surge
2007-07-11 16:06:00 More time is needed to gauge the effectiveness of the ongoing military offensive against insurgents in and around Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, the top U.S. general there said. "I can think of few commanders in history who wouldn't have wanted more troops, more time or more unity among their partners. However, if I could only have one (item) at this point in Iraq, it would be more time," Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, said during a question-and-answer session published in the New York Post today. Petraeus is overseeing several ongoing operations that are part of an overall offensive against insurgents in Iraq called Operation Phantom Thunder, which began June 15, once all of the surge troops were in place. President Bush directed a deployment of about 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq earlier this year as a surge of forces to assist the Iraqi government in confronting the insurgency. By July 15, the general and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan ...
Officials Warn of 'Premature Conclusions' About Iraq Surge
2007-07-11 15:59:00 Defense officials do not want Americans to jump to "premature conclusions" about the troop surge in Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said today. The last of 21,500 combat troops ordered into Baghdad and other hot spots for surge operations arrived in Iraq just three weeks ago. "It is important to give our commanders in the field the opportunity that we said we were going to provide," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters today. The Bush administration will deliver an initial report to Congress by July 15 on progress of 18 benchmarks specified in legislation granting funding for the war effort. The emergency supplemental legislation Congress passed in April called for the July 15 interim report on the surge by. Another report is due by Sept. 15. Whitman said the department is focused on the September report. "It's focused on the operations that have been put in place that execute the strategy that was planned and agreed upon with an expectation that we would be in a better place...
Petraeus hints Iraq ?surge? may be needed longer
2007-06-17 23:01:00 Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said he does not expect the “surge” of 30,000 additional troops to Iraq to finish their job by September, a critical month when lawmakers expect a clear read on whether the larger troop presence is having an effect. “Fox News” Host Chris Wallace asked Petraeus, ...
By: The Hot Joints
Midterm Report on the Iraq Surge
2007-05-03 00:46:00 The troop surge which President Bush announced in early January began in early February and has now been underway approximately three months, although the peak troop levels of the surge won?t be reached for another couple of months. One purpose of the surge is to reduce the number of civilian deaths in Iraq, which rose dramatically in 2006, thereby buying time for Iraq?s political leadership to implement reforms identified as benchmarks for progress by Bush when the surge was announced. The announced focus of the troop surge was Baghdad and, to a lesser extent, Anbar province. The end of April provides an opportunity to look at civilian casualty figures in Iraq to see whether the surge is having any impact, and if so, what type of impact it is having. I used civilian casualty figures compiled by Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, which has been tracking this data since early 2005. I chose October 2006 as a starting point for the analysis, as that was the first month in which civili...
By: Coldheartedtruth
Suicide bombings hindering Iraq surge
2007-04-22 17:17:00 BAGHDAD, April 22 : The top U.S. commander in Iraq says "modest progress" is being made by the increased U.S. presence there, but rising violence is countering the effects.
By: newkerala.com
Why the Iraq Surge Already Is a Failure
2007-04-13 18:37:00 Shaun Mullen says :"It has been a hugely embarrassing month for President Bush?s last-gasp ?surge? strategy."The Moderate Voice has more...
By: Munaeem's Blog
Senate GOP Foils Debate on Iraq Surge
2007-02-18 06:18:02 WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate gridlocked on the Iraq war in a sharply worded showdown Saturday as Republicans foiled a Democratic bid to repudiate President Bush’s deployment of 21,500 additional combat troops. The 56-34 vote fell four short of the 60 needed to advance a nonbinding measure identical to one the House passed Friday. Seven GOP senators broke ranks, compared with only two during an earlier test on the issue. Democrats swiftly claimed victory. “A majority of the United States Senate is against the escalation in Iraq,” said Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. “As for the Republicans who chose once again to block further debate and protect President Bush, the American people now know they support the escalation” in troops. Republicans blasted the Democratic leadership for refusing to allow a vote on an alternative that ruled out any reduction in money for troops in the field. Full Story Here: Senate GOP Foils Debate on Iraq Surge Reid is corr...
By: TexasFred's
Republicans refuse to debate Iraq surge
2007-02-06 03:19:04 Let's see which if the Republicans up for re-election in 2008 voted against debating the Iraq surge: Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) Thad Cochran (R-MS) John Cornyn (R-TX) Larry Craig (R-ID) Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) Pete Domenici (R-NM) Mike Enzi (R-WY) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Chuck Hagel (R-NE) Jim Inhofe (R-OK) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Pat Roberts (R-KS) Jeff Sessions (R-AL) Gordon Smith (R-OR) Ted Stevens (R-AK) John Sununu (R-NH) John Warner (R-VA) Lookit here -- Chuck Hagel once again proves he's all talk, but when it comes time for action, he buckles. Susan Collins of Maine and Norm Coleman of Minnesota both buckled to political reality -- they'll both be axed in 2008. But the rest of these guys? Dole, Warner, Cornyn, Smith (!), McConnell, Sununu, Demonici, Chambliss -- we'll make you regret this vote in 2008. This was always the GOP's war, but now more than ever. Not a single Democrat voted against cloture. Well, Harry Reid did, but that's a procedural ste... |
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