Reports on the various security "crackdowns" in Iraq
The US military's multiple shifts in tactics have led to no downward change in the number of attacks or the overall level of violence in the Sunni Anbar province.
The security "crackdown" in Baghdad of 70,000 US and Iraqi troops has made no appreciable change in the level of violence in Baghdad. If anything, the number of deaths and attacks in Baghdad have risen.
The "state of emergency" in Basra, (Maliki threatened an "iron fist") appears to have failed as well. (Month old post on the Basra "state of emergency.")
We're not winning.
And as for a change in overall tactics: Mr Khalilzad admitted the situation in Iraq was difficult, but said the US had "no other option than to persist."
The security "crackdown" in Baghdad of 70,000 US and Iraqi troops has made no appreciable change in the level of violence in Baghdad. If anything, the number of deaths and attacks in Baghdad have risen.
The "state of emergency" in Basra, (Maliki threatened an "iron fist") appears to have failed as well. (Month old post on the Basra "state of emergency.")
We're not winning.
And as for a change in overall tactics: Mr Khalilzad admitted the situation in Iraq was difficult, but said the US had "no other option than to persist."
posted by mikevotes at
4:34 PM
2 Comments:
We can, with enough violence and suspension of freedoms and liberties, subdue an insurgency. But that's not the same as extinguishing and insurgency.
It seems to me, only when the issues that drive the insurgents are addressed -- as much as possible the realm of realistic compromise -- will the insurgency fade away. We need to find a way to make the insurgents pariahs in the eyes of their ethnic brothers (Sunni for Sunni, Shia for Shia).
Perhaps if we redeployed our troops out of the neighborhoods and out of the "crack down" squads, this may help.
By
-epm, at 4:16 PM
Yeah. The only semi-successful anti insurgent campaigns have been horribly violent, and even that's a less than 50-50 proposition. Look at the Russian commitment in Chechnya, deployments of 100,000 and a native population around 1-2 million. A fairly free hand on the level of violence and still no resolution 10 years on.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 8:46 PM
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