And they are also winning battles:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2006 – Iraqi soldiers and police chalked up a series of victories in recent anti-terrorist operations conducted across the country, according to U.S. military officials.
First, Iraqi soldiers captured several suspected members of insurgent and murder and kidnapping cells, including the alleged leader of an al Qaeda in Iraq cell, during a series of early morning raids across Baghdad Oct. 20.
Iraqi forces, with coalition advisers, conducted three separate raids and detained eight suspects believed responsible for sectarian murders and kidnappings, as well as improvised explosive device attacks on Iraqi and coalition forces.
In a raid in the Adhamiyah area of Baghdad, Iraqi soldiers detained two suspects responsible for sectarian attacks against civilians and indirect fire attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces.
In two other Oct. 20 raids in southwestern Baghdad, special Iraqi army forces detained four suspected terrorists involved in IED, rocket-propelled grenade and small-arms fire attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces. Two persons suspected of sectarian attacks against Iraqi civilians were also detained.
One operation occurred in the vicinity of the Al Mluki Mosque in the Monsour district of Baghdad. Iraqi and coalition forces did not enter the mosque and didn't cause any damage to it. There were no civilian, Iraqi forces or coalition forces casualties.
The raids were conducted as part of Operation Together Forward with the goal of disrupting terror cells that kill innocent Iraqi citizens and attack government forces.
As the election nears, we're only getting reports about Iraq which say things like, "the escalating level of violence" - and no report about what is happening. It is just "violence" - like rain, except its all President Bush's fault. What is actually happening, of course, is an escalated level of battle. American, Coalition and Iraqi forces are suffering higher casualties not because the enemy is stronger, but because we are ever more directly taking the fight to the enemy in his last strongholds - places he has to fight to retain, or lose forever.
I really do hope that after the election, with the Democrats taking a couple months to point fingers and spin conspiracy theories, that the MSM will finally start reporting about the Iraq war - you know, stop being a transit point for DNC talking points, and actually start telling the American people what is going on there. The should be able to give us from, oh, December until July on truth - then they'll have to start gearing up for the 2008 elections and it'll be back to pro-Democrat/anti-GOP lies and half truths...but for a least a while, we can hope they'll tell the truth.
As an aside - when was the last time you wen to America Supports You and did something nice for the troops? Yes, this is an official guilt trip - the holidays are coming, and now is the time to get things sent to the troops to make life a little easier for them.
Posted by Mark Noonan at October 24, 2006 07:39 AM
Comments
"In Spite of What You've Heard, the Iraqis Are Fighting"
Oh, we've heard all about it, Mark. Iraqis fighting Iraqi insurgents. Iraqi insurgents fighting US soldiers. Shia fighting Sunnis. Shia fighting Shia.
And don't forget the Iraqi security adviser said the fact that Iraqi soldiers are poorly trained and equipped is the reason why Operation Together Forward "failed" in bringing security to Baghdad.
You can cite 3 or 4 raids that were successful, and that's all well and good, but ignore greater realities. For us to succeed in Iraq, we must face reality. Something it doesn't seem you're able to do.
Posted by: Tom Shipley at October 24, 2006 08:36 AM
Iraqi forces captured 16 suspected insurgents? Great, only 30,000 or so to go. This isn't even an impressive display of military prowess, considering Shia death squads are killing about 50 'suspected insurgents' every night.
Posted by: steveGA at October 24, 2006 08:48 AM
"American, Coalition and Iraqi forces are suffering higher casualties not because the enemy is stronger, but because we are ever more directly taking the fight to the enemy in his last strongholds - places he has to fight to retain, or lose forever."
I hope you're right Mark but you have said the same thing about 8 months ago. Rhetoric.That the insurgents are on their last leg and it will be over. Think again grasshopper...
Posted by: Morphie at October 24, 2006 09:20 AM
I remain disappointed that the world's most lethal assult forces are tied-down as police due to a failure to internationalize the occupation.
too many pre-invasion assumptions (irrespective of the lack of WMD's); too little post-invasion planning & no evident historical perspective on islamic sectarian strife nor the pledge to NOT "nation-build" w our military.
as general franks said "hope is not a plan"...nor does hubris & stubbornness constitute leadership.
my former V corps commander, general powell was correct in his pre-invasion dissent.
partition (the kurds are our only allies anyway despite the turks), declare victory, & unass the AO...we need the threat of our forces elsewhere.
Posted by: OhioOrrin at October 24, 2006 09:30 AM
Mark,
You are right when you say
What is actually happening, of course, is an escalated level of battle.
I think what you are trying to say is something like "we are engaging our enemy more now, and since we always win, this has to be good news, as it shortens the war." That sounds really good. And you are right--we do always win our battles. So what's amiss?
The whole problem this argument is the inescapable fact that our enemies are growing in number. That's the reason we are seing more battles. It's not that they are a finite enemy and we are finally getting to the heart of them, i.e. winning. It's that they are multiplying like rabbits, and coming in from all quarters (read Syria, Jordan, Iran and Saudi). They are pouring in like cockroaches to the country that we invaded and destabalized.
Your big assumtion here is that eventually they will run out of terrorists, and we win. Again, sounds good. But the enemy is defeating our plan. They have now caused sectarian strife; quelling this has now become our primary mission in Iraq. It is no longer fighting terrorists. Did we originally respond to the 9/11 attacks just so we could be referree between Sunni's ans Shi'ites? I think not. But that is our mission now.
And youre assertion that
we are ever more directly taking the fight to the enemy in his last strongholds - places he has to fight to retain, or lose forever.
is the exact opposite of the truth. You know that in July we have retreated some of our forces from around Iraq to Baghdad. If we were "taking the fight to the enemy", we would be expanding our presence, moving away from our center and engagin the enemy in the last corners of his stronghold. The opposite is what is happening. The enemy is taking the fight to our stronghold, namely Baghdad. Your assertion that our shrinking presence in the rest of Iraq is somehow "good news" is laughable.
Mark, when I say things like "the enemy is defeating our plan", please don't twist my words and say that I am claiming that this is good. On the contrary, this is very, very bad.
So now we have a choice. Continue allowing the enemy to define our war (i.e. letting them destabalize the country and bringing the fight to us) or leave, call it a "victory" (even though it is a defeat, thanks George) and concentrate on terrorists who have Global Reach (haven't heard that in a while...I wonder why.)
Mark, you would be correct if you are thinking that this sounds absolutely abhorrent. It is. But the alternative is worse. If Iraq turns into a complete civil war while we are there we look completely impotent. Better to leave, lick our wounds, regroup and win the war than let the world fall apart around us while we scurry about on raids, shooting the odd terrorist or two. It is an incredibly bitter pill; but if we swallow it now it will be much easier to win in the long run, and after all that is what we are after, right?
Posted by: Jim Oliver at October 24, 2006 02:39 PM
Who supports the troops more – Democrats or Republicans? Go to
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/24/151337/66
for an independent study. The results tell the whole story.
Posted by: OCPatriot at October 24, 2006 09:46 PM
Yo Mark, where are your Bush Republican Knuckleheaded friends to defend you in your continuing delusional 'things are going good in Iraq' post? Seems you are outnumbered so far.
Do you feel like General Custer?
BWAH WAH WAH WAH
Posted by: Canuckguy at October 24, 2006 10:17 PM
Jim,
You know the answer to that - any retreat is defeat, and we can't have that. At any rate, only in the fevered mind of the left is Iraq going badly...in the real world, its a hard fight but it is going well.
Posted by: Mark Noonan at October 25, 2006 01:24 AM
Please report any inappropriate comments to abuse (at) blogsforbush (dot) com. Be sure to include the title of the blog entry, the name of the commenter, and the text of the offending comment.
Post a comment
"In Spite of What You've Heard, the Iraqis Are Fighting"
Oh, we've heard all about it, Mark. Iraqis fighting Iraqi insurgents. Iraqi insurgents fighting US soldiers. Shia fighting Sunnis. Shia fighting Shia.
And don't forget the Iraqi security adviser said the fact that Iraqi soldiers are poorly trained and equipped is the reason why Operation Together Forward "failed" in bringing security to Baghdad.
You can cite 3 or 4 raids that were successful, and that's all well and good, but ignore greater realities. For us to succeed in Iraq, we must face reality. Something it doesn't seem you're able to do.
Iraqi forces captured 16 suspected insurgents? Great, only 30,000 or so to go. This isn't even an impressive display of military prowess, considering Shia death squads are killing about 50 'suspected insurgents' every night.
"American, Coalition and Iraqi forces are suffering higher casualties not because the enemy is stronger, but because we are ever more directly taking the fight to the enemy in his last strongholds - places he has to fight to retain, or lose forever."
I hope you're right Mark but you have said the same thing about 8 months ago. Rhetoric.That the insurgents are on their last leg and it will be over. Think again grasshopper...
I remain disappointed that the world's most lethal assult forces are tied-down as police due to a failure to internationalize the occupation.
too many pre-invasion assumptions (irrespective of the lack of WMD's); too little post-invasion planning & no evident historical perspective on islamic sectarian strife nor the pledge to NOT "nation-build" w our military.
as general franks said "hope is not a plan"...nor does hubris & stubbornness constitute leadership.
my former V corps commander, general powell was correct in his pre-invasion dissent.
partition (the kurds are our only allies anyway despite the turks), declare victory, & unass the AO...we need the threat of our forces elsewhere.
Mark,
You are right when you say
I think what you are trying to say is something like "we are engaging our enemy more now, and since we always win, this has to be good news, as it shortens the war." That sounds really good. And you are right--we do always win our battles. So what's amiss?
The whole problem this argument is the inescapable fact that our enemies are growing in number. That's the reason we are seing more battles. It's not that they are a finite enemy and we are finally getting to the heart of them, i.e. winning. It's that they are multiplying like rabbits, and coming in from all quarters (read Syria, Jordan, Iran and Saudi). They are pouring in like cockroaches to the country that we invaded and destabalized.
Your big assumtion here is that eventually they will run out of terrorists, and we win. Again, sounds good. But the enemy is defeating our plan. They have now caused sectarian strife; quelling this has now become our primary mission in Iraq. It is no longer fighting terrorists. Did we originally respond to the 9/11 attacks just so we could be referree between Sunni's ans Shi'ites? I think not. But that is our mission now.
And youre assertion that
is the exact opposite of the truth. You know that in July we have retreated some of our forces from around Iraq to Baghdad. If we were "taking the fight to the enemy", we would be expanding our presence, moving away from our center and engagin the enemy in the last corners of his stronghold. The opposite is what is happening. The enemy is taking the fight to our stronghold, namely Baghdad. Your assertion that our shrinking presence in the rest of Iraq is somehow "good news" is laughable.
Mark, when I say things like "the enemy is defeating our plan", please don't twist my words and say that I am claiming that this is good. On the contrary, this is very, very bad.
So now we have a choice. Continue allowing the enemy to define our war (i.e. letting them destabalize the country and bringing the fight to us) or leave, call it a "victory" (even though it is a defeat, thanks George) and concentrate on terrorists who have Global Reach (haven't heard that in a while...I wonder why.)
Mark, you would be correct if you are thinking that this sounds absolutely abhorrent. It is. But the alternative is worse. If Iraq turns into a complete civil war while we are there we look completely impotent. Better to leave, lick our wounds, regroup and win the war than let the world fall apart around us while we scurry about on raids, shooting the odd terrorist or two. It is an incredibly bitter pill; but if we swallow it now it will be much easier to win in the long run, and after all that is what we are after, right?
Who supports the troops more – Democrats or Republicans? Go to
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/24/151337/66
for an independent study. The results tell the whole story.
Yo Mark, where are your Bush Republican Knuckleheaded friends to defend you in your continuing delusional 'things are going good in Iraq' post? Seems you are outnumbered so far.
Do you feel like General Custer?
BWAH WAH WAH WAH
Jim,
You know the answer to that - any retreat is defeat, and we can't have that. At any rate, only in the fevered mind of the left is Iraq going badly...in the real world, its a hard fight but it is going well.