Apparently the LA Times can’t find any bad news in Iraq
I know this is fragile. I know this level of violence is still far from acceptable. I am under no illusions that Iraq has been transformed into a peaceful, enlightened Liechtenstein. And I know things could all go south tomorrow.
But isn’t this great?
The U.S. military said today that the number of attacks by militants in the last week dropped to a level not seen in Iraq since March 2004.
About 300 violent incidents were recorded in the seven-day period ending Friday, down from a weekly high of nearly 1,600 in mid-June last year, according to a chart provided by the military.
You’ll have to look at that picture of capering Iraqi children they used to illustrate the story. It’s like something from a Michael Moore movie illustrating how wonderful things were under Saddam.*
Thanks very much to the troops–American and Iraqi–who gave so much to bring this about.
For what it’s worth, my thinking is that part of the reason for this silence is that Al-Qaeda in Iraq is conserving their strength and laying low until right around the elections, then they’ll spring a new series of atrocities and attacks on American and Iraqi troops and Iraqi civilians. Of course, they’ve also been pummeled relentlessly for years now (as the article notes) and the Iraqi street has turned on them, so their capacity to do their worst has probably been curtailed.
On the other hand, they now have little to lose by plotting acts of shocking, sickening, headline-grabbing violence intended to cow the American population and rattle America’s resolve. I don’t want to be too pessimistic, but I don’t think it’s safe to count out Al-Qaeda until the very last one has been rendered carbon-neutral.
MORE: The first thing I saw after I posted this is an article describing cautious optimism and progress about our efforts to run AQI out of their last stronghold in Iraq–Mosul. Keep after ‘em.
*If I were a cynical S.O.B. in the Army’s outreach brigades, I would hand out red, white, and blue kites to little kids all over Iraq. And then take their picture flying them. I ifgure that if a few seconds of footage featured in Michael Moore’s film showing Iraqi kids flying kites proved that everything was great under Saddam, then a few seconds of footage showing Iraqi kids flying kites now in post-Saddam Iraq must mean everything’s at least as peachy after the liberation as well. Right?
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{Post by See-Dubya}
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Michelle, I posted an e-mail sent to me by a friend from Colombia in an earlier post about the recently deceased FARC leader that illustrates the HUGE difference between Colombia and America. Colombia’s president Uribe celebrates their army’s successes. President Bush is decidedly silent about our successes in Iraq. Or at least he’s not learned to use the media to the extent Uribe has used it in Colombia. The fight against terrorism in all of its guises must be fought as rigorously in the media as it is fought on the ground. Al Qaeda has known that for as long as they’ve been fighting. America needs to learn it NOW.
Uribe and his military enjoys an 86% popularity rating. Knock Knock, President Bush…are you listening? I know you don’t care what your critics think, but you should care what your people think.
This is news. I thought if the Times couldn’t find anything bad, they’d just make it up as usual.
Someone there is napping.
But this really is good news!
This is a great Memorial Day indeed.
Our Pastor’s son returned from Afghanistan last week only to meet with President Bush (how cool!!) at Fort Bragg for lunch along with members of the Green Beret Special Forces team that fought in Afghanistan last month.
We praise God he is home safe and pray for the two men who were lost and their families.
This young soldier told his dad, our Pastor, that the war isn’t political. It is religious: Muslims vs. the world. He said that the enemy will not stop so we mustn’t stop.
He is 29 yrs. old and volunteered to go into the Army 4 years ago.
We thank God for young men like him everyday…and especially today.
Thank the Lord that there is peace in Iraq for now.
Methinks Iraq is a tad too large to be the next Liechtenstein.
I have a friend whose two sons I have I have known since they were goofy adolescents who evolved into athletic HS studs without a lick of common sense. Both gave up D1 college track scholarships on 9/12/01 to enlist. Now in their mid-twenties, the eldest is on his third tour in Iraq/Afghanistan in a regular forces unit, spending alternate tours instructing in stateside training camps. The younger brother is in a Special Forces dark unit on his fifth or sixth tour, alternating between Iraq and Afghanistan. His unit disappears into the country. He told his mother she would only hear from him to annouce a brief homecoming or to be notified of his death. He refuses to talk about his experience but apparently has been busy. On his last visit in October 2007, he had accumulated three Purple Hearts, Bronze Star and two Silver Stars.
Makes me proud to know these “kids”
Wait you mean Liechtenstein or Lichtenstein? I’m confused. I just realized underseige is spelled undersiege. Damn.
[Fixed--See-dubya.]
No calm before the storm talk. Let’s enjoy this moment.
It could be that he realizes the press in this country has consistently twisted the facts of what is going on in Iraq to their own purpose via the guise of the first ammendment.
It’s good to see what has been accomplished in Iraq. But, as every commander knows, when your enemy is reeling, you increase the pressure. Don’t slow down now. Make sure, wherever they are, they are not safe.
Wonder if CNN’s “Shock and Awe” news retrospective tonight will _fairly_ instead of cynically view what’s been happening in Iraq like the wonderful Fox feature “A Company of Heroes” did! CNN and MSNBC seem hell-bent on casting a public-disaffecting black pall on anything positive over there. Also, you don’t fight or judge a war because it’s “popular”, you fight one because the alternative is far worst.
James Greenidge
Queens NY
If you want gloom and doom, you need to read the NY Times OR, read posts from lgm and corona.
No puppies to kick today corona?
Thanks to our brave fighting forces.
Thanks to the families of our brave fighting men and women.
God Bless you all.
Screw the MSM
Hubby has only been back a week but has told me that things seem better this time but he isn’t surprised because he could see this coming when he came home last time.
Screw the MSM indeed!
My hippie neighbor and I had a brief discussion about Iraqi yesterday. He was really stunned when I noted the number of open schools, vaccinations for kids, etc. that our troops are doing. Told him this was all first-hand knowledge from “boots on the ground.”
The libs don’t want to hear about girls going to schools, clinics we opened, kids playing soccer (often funded out-of-pocket by our mean old soldiers), shoes, school supplies distributed, or the dogs our guys rescued from abuse.
A lot of the gifts to Iraqis are actual donations from families back home.
What does this say about our mean old nation and way of life? That we can always seem to reach into our pockets and offer a hand.
When was the last time France or French soldiers did anything like this?
Think I dented the propaganda shield from the WaPo a bit. Yahoo!
Whose, ours or the Iraqis?
This concept goes back at least 100+ years. Filipino guerillas tried to do the same thing for the U. S. Presidential elections back in 1900.
I have started doing a good news thread at the end of the week where I highlight good news out of Iraq — I always have to pick and choose what I find because there are so many good things happening. I am finding articles on citizens who are engaging in new businesses, Iraqi Government progress, serious decreases in violence, children getting new schools, women owning businesses to support their families, citizens defending their Country from AQ — all Courtesy of the US Armed Forces
“never been closer to defeat than they are now.” Printed in the MSM, while Congress goes on vacation and ignore the troops and their families. — A Memorial Day 2008 — Military DID it’s job and Congress DIDN’T.
Thanks, C-W..
Good news? Violence is down? This is horrible!
What about the impact on the coffin-makers? WHAT ABOUT THE COFFIN-MAKERS?
My guess is Iran has made the tactical decision that their AQ battle front is lost, at least until oBORGama pulls the US troops out — if Iraq remains weak, the Iranian AQ will be back in force, or sustained just enough to keep supply lines open
In the meantime, Irans resources wiil be redireccted to the Hezbos to make trouble for Isreal and perhaps Lebanon. When it comes time for OBORGama to talk to everyone about peace, he’ll be an easy mark to give up huge chunks of both Isresl and Lebanon — whatever it takes for oBORGama and his short friend Iwannawhakjob in Iran a pair of Nobel PPs.
The sequel will be the Hezbos take over Lebanon, Then attention might return to Iraq. Meanwhile oBORGama will be happy staying home polishing his Nobel PP for the PRESSSSident to remind everyone wwhose the greatest.
Last night I stayed up way past my usual bed time to watch the Fox News special report “Company of Heroes” of the USMC India Company and how they valiantly fought while suffering casualties of some very special young men while liberating Fallujah in 2004. I can never express my gratitude to these young heroes and the few families that had their world shattered by the death of a loved one. The remarkable part is the families understood those killed died doing what they felt had to be done to keep us safe at home. No matter how much they still suffer the families still get it and honor their service.
One of the key things I got out of this was how after liberating the torture chambers and death houses filled with victims of Al Qaeda cruelty these young professionals realized this was a clear cut war of good against evil. This was one of the few times I actually saw partial pictures of the Jihadist our guys have sent to meet their virgins as well as the victims with pretty graphic description of what these savages did to innocent civilians. Thank God! We have men of this caliber on the front lines drawing the Jihadist to fight and die in Iraq and Afghanistan keeping many from infiltrating through our wide open unprotected borders. It was stated more than once by these young warriors that the Jihadist they captured are working to turn America into a wasteland so they can install their way of life here.
It does appear we have the enemy on the run for now, but with the interference from Syria and Iran it still has the potential to get bad again. Until the President allows our military to send these rouge governments to the wood shed with a couple of surgical strikes with stand off weapons to get their attention our troops will be at risk of changing tactics and increasingly more deadly munitions (courtesy of the Iranian Mullahs).
No news in the MSM means Good News for patriots.
It is clear that the MSM wants the US to be pathetic losers, relinguish our status as a superpower and wallow it the mediocrity which grips the rest of the world.
Good news for our troops and the U.S. is bad news for liberals.
lgm, care to comment?
#1 Dagney said:
True. President Bush should invite President Uribe to stand up during his last State of the Union speech next January, so that Nancy Pelosi and her liberal pack of seething rat bastards have to applaud him for five whole minutes.
I love how President Uribe phones up his mid-level field officers to either congratulate them or to inspire them to keep capturing and killing the enemy.
interoffice memo from the Times editor in chief: “do not report, i repeat, do not report stories of violence in Iraq when there is more violence in east L.A.”
Well, it could be true.
But liberals have told us all along that when we kill an Al Qaeda terrorist, we merely CREATE MORE. The LEFT has told America, that those who HOMICIDE BOMB fellow Muslims are “FREEDOM FIGHTERS”.
That America has pissed off work-a-day Iraqi’s…that this “war” is un-win-able”.
What pathetic and utter non-sense.
Only an anti-American lib JACK-ASS could believe this shyte.
But this SHYTE feeds the LIB AGENDA.
What’s creating more terrorists are high birth rates in Muslim countries. Liberals say they want to lower the population, but are too scared to confront Muslim nations on this because they might be called a racist or an islamophobe. USA, Europeans, Canadians and Australians liberals covering their ears when you talk about madrassas in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan recruiting people.
Seriously, the Saudis are working very, very hard on this. They recruit people to become Wahhabi sheiks even from the Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria. They were also trying to pay Macedonians to teach this in their Muslim schools.
Liberals refuse to see this and want Muslims to tell them “You are tolerant. Good for you.”
I work with wounded warriors here in San Antonio as a Soldiers’ Angel, and I’m amazed at the caliber of soldier America has fielded. We’ve got a group of volunteers who’ve collected thousands of stuffed animals and mailed them to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to give out to the children there. It’s a “win-win” situation we’re proud to be taking part in!