Three articles today about the Iraq insurgency put the lie to comments by Maj. Gen. Charles "we've turned the corner" Swannack and Maj. Gen. Raymond "brought to their knees" Odierno ... and prove wrong anyone who predicted the capture of Saddam Hussein would put a dent in the low-grade guerrilla war that's killing more than 1.5 Americans per day.
January was the second deadliest month for US troops since the fall of Baghdad.
So who's killing Americans, and separating them from their arms, legs, and eyesight? The mainstream sources linked above and U.S. commanders still chalk up most of the violence to "regime loyalists," either willfully ignorant or oblivious to any notion of Iraqi nationalism playing a role in attempting to remove an occupying army.
posted by dackJust be grateful we're not hearing more talk of Al-Qaeda or Hezbollah elements being the masterminds behind the attacks. That's sure to come soon.
BTW, here's a decent story from ABC News a couple weeks ago that I thought was interesting:
Soldiers can't give candy to Iraqi children. It's forbidden to be "too" friendly. It's important to look tough. That's what they are being told.
The strategy in Iraq has evolved. There's no talk about hearts and minds. "They will never like us," says one senior officer. "We need to move on."
Nearly one year after invading Iraq, the Army — at least some of the Army — has decided it's more important to be feared than to be friends.
Good find there, Vin. I love this from Lt. Douglas Hoyt:
Less than a thousand years ago, the Christians were the barbarians. "We were in the Dark Ages," he noted. "It was religious fundamentalism. Science was bad, evil … Islam was a religion of liberation. It brought us modern math, science and art."
Hoyt paused and shook his head. "What happened? How did we get here?" Then he smiled. "I like to think of this as our turn," he explained. "It's our turn to return the favor, to bring them out of their dark age."
Good grief.
For Judy Miller watchers:
Michael Massing put the smackdown on dear Judith yesterday on NPR's The Connection.
Massing's examination of the media role in the buildup to war, "Now They Tell Us," will appear in the Feb. 26 New York Review of Books.
Posted by: Sven on February 4, 2004 12:48 PM"It's our turn to return the favor, to bring them out of their dark age."
Yeah, just so long as they don't use the word "evolution"!
Another interesting story is the cheap hired guns from SA with no accountability flooding Iraq.
""You can get well-trained, disciplined South Africans for less than $5 000 whereas British and Americans won't work for less than $10 000," said our source.
The South Africans also take higher risks and are seldom insured by their employers."
"Institute for Security Studies military analyst Henri Boshoff agrees that most South Africans in Iraq are former members of the South African Defence Force and South African Police."
"While South Africa is trying to tackle the PMC growth industry, the US and UK are turning increasingly to PMCs with no accountability or lacking strict regulatory regimes."
Posted by: p8 on February 5, 2004 03:24 AM