McCainiacs claim the "Surge" worked ... or DID it???

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10/26/2008 03:29:50 PM EST Google Technorati del.icio.us digg reddit

From a recent article in CommonDreams http://www.commondreams.org /

Tom Hayden raises some disturbing questions. "Why were the targets killed instead of being detained? How many targeted individuals were killed or made to disappear? . . . How are the operations consistent with US constitutional law and international human rights standards?" Why has thee been no congressional investigation?

According to UN reports, the number of Iraqi refugees has spiked during the Surge. Between 2.5 and 4 million are now estimated to exist outside their country, while another 2.5 are internal refugees. At least 2 million Sunni refugees cannot return to their homes without fear of being slaughtered.

Yet another confirmation appeared in a recent study conducted by scientists at the University of California. Based on an examination of satellite photos across Baghdad, the study observed that Sunni neighborhoods, which showed a dramatic decrease of nighttime light in Sunni neighborhoods, had been abandoned by their inhabitants. The surge, the study concluded, "has had no observable effect." The study attributed the tremendous decline in Baghdad's Sunni population to relocations and ethnic cleansing.

Iraq: Did the Surge Work? http://www.commondreams.org /view/2008/10/23-3
by George Hunsinger

Violence, Alexander Solzenitsyn once observed, finds refuge in falsehood, even as falsehood is supported by violence. "Anyone who has once acclaimed violence as his method must inexorably choose falsehood as his principle." (Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1972) A practical rule can be deduced. Where there is violence, look for falsehood; where there is falsehood, look for violence. If Solzenitsyn is correct, they go together.

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McCainiacs claim the "Surge" worked ... or DID it??? | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
There is no reason to believe... (none / 0)

... that putting more police on the ground did not reduce crime.  Of course it did.  The surge was a police action.

But I am certain that General Petraeus and others close to the situation agree that the Sunni Awakening and other political maneuvering were the most important factors in the reduction of violence.  Also, the Iraqis segregated themselves and there were fewer neighborhoods with mixed ethnicity.

Anyone who says that the surge was the reason that violence went down, or says that it was the main reason, is either lying or naive.

by rbruck on 10/26/2008 04:08:21 PM EST

And according to (none / 0)
AntiWar.com http://news.antiwar.com/200 8/10/26/us-struggles-to-res cue-faltering-iraq-security -deal/
 The US State Department has summoned Massoud al-Barzani, President of Iraqi Kurdistan, as part of a delegation to Washington DC later this week to discuss ways to rescue the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the US and Iraq, which top officials are saying is all but dead at this point.

Two weeks ago the SOFA appeared completed, with aides to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki eying a two-thirds majority in the Iraqi Parliament. But with increasing popular and political opposition to the deal, the ruling coalition began demanding amendments to the deal.

According the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the door was "pretty far closed" as far as altering the agreement, even though Iraq is still submitting proposed changes, and Gates said that if the political process were allowed to play out in Iraq, the deal would likely be approved in the end. The political process seems to have played to a conclusion at this point, however, with Iraqi politicians declaring the deal "dead in the water."

by gatekeeper50 on 10/26/2008 05:12:32 PM EST

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McCainiacs claim the "Surge" worked ... or DID it??? | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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