Reality of the Surge Options

[Hellfighter]

My view;
A smartly run military campaign.
.... however McCain and other neocons are perhaps patting 'themselves' too early for supporting it;
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23382421

Firstly - the current 'Surge' was supposed to have ended six months ago.
The Surge's main- MAIN- purpose was not directly about killing off al quaeda, but to get the Iraqi government to finally act as one solid front - that has not succeeded -> their may be improvements in that goal, but it hasn't been accomplished-still.

Secondly the Surge was supposed to mean a reduction in troop strength to reduce the stress on the soldiers involved in excessive rotations. The neo-cons tend to assume soldiers are wind-up toys with energizer batteries in them rather than dedicated hman beings. Is it no wonder thre are so many soldiers returning from Iraq feeling disenfranchised by society and 'preferring' to live out of the norms of society once they get back and as we see in shameful large numbers in homeless conditions ['support the troops' was the hollow neocon mantra for the longest while. Now they're surprised why their flag-waving antics no longer work].
Troop numbers in Iraq are still very high.
Of course the argument that tactically a troop withdrawal would lead to a disaster. But get real. The Surge Generals know all is not hunky-dory just because territory is gained and all seems quiet for now regarding the Sunnis in the north and south, and the still potent Shiite militias held-back by a ceasefire agreement. Iran is quite. People are waiting in the wings. We tend in the West to view progress from our perspective -enemy quiet= enemy defeated. They're being 'clever' for lack of a better word. You can bet they are using this quiet time to plan their own surge when the time is right - US troops whether McCain or a Dem is in charge WILL be reduced when thins seem quiet enough -and that's when the enem/enemies will strike and launch their civil war.
There's no doubt also that al quaeda's 'ground force's are on the run - but their suicide bombers can still lurk anywhere in Iraq. All they need to do / and are doing is to keep maintaining 2 or 3 horrid suicide attacks a month to keep things destabilized there.
Note how the media over here now rarely mentions the suicide attacks in Iraq. They're in'Surge is working' mode. Just like they ignored Afghanistan has been in worse shape.

Finally why did the Surge 'work'. 'Awakening Alliance'- the Sunni private armies that are contesting al quaeda. The Surge is only progressing in terms of territory due to the Awakening Alliance 'watching the six' of the the Surge's tail. The amount of US troops freed up by this comfort in not having to leave considerable troops back to solidify gained ground is an impressive reason for the successes - not to mention al Sadr's militias being quiet in Baghdad -temporarily. Then another reason things are calmed - the ethnic cleansing of neighbourhoods by gangs of demons succeeded to the point where there were no more 'undesirables' left to kill - so it appeared they had been stopped when in fact they had themselves no reason to continue their mayhem.
So that are measuring success in Iraq from a tunnel-minded vision need to look at the bigger picture, and the reality in total the mainstream media are failing to let you know about - and in fact are misleading you about. It's not too difficult to find out how everything is currently balanced on the edge of a blade over there.

[Blitz]

My view;
A smartly run military campaign.
.... however McCain and other neocons are perhaps patting 'themselves' too early for supporting it;
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23382421

Firstly - the current 'Surge' was supposed to have ended six months ago.
The Surge's main- MAIN- purpose was not directly about killing off al quaeda, but to get the Iraqi government to finally act as one solid front - that has not succeeded -> their may be improvements in that goal, but it hasn't been accomplished-still.

Secondly the Surge was supposed to mean a reduction in troop strength to reduce the stress on the soldiers involved in excessive rotations. The neo-cons tend to assume soldiers are wind-up toys with energizer batteries in them rather than dedicated hman beings. Is it no wonder thre are so many soldiers returning from Iraq feeling disenfranchised by society and 'preferring' to live out of the norms of society once they get back and as we see in shameful large numbers in homeless conditions ['support the troops' was the hollow neocon mantra for the longest while. Now they're surprised why their flag-waving antics no longer work].
Troop numbers in Iraq are still very high.
Of course the argument that tactically a troop withdrawal would lead to a disaster. But get real. The Surge Generals know all is not hunky-dory just because territory is gained and all seems quiet for now regarding the Sunnis in the north and south, and the still potent Shiite militias held-back by a ceasefire agreement. Iran is quite. People are waiting in the wings. We tend in the West to view progress from our perspective -enemy quiet= enemy defeated. They're being 'clever' for lack of a better word. You can bet they are using this quiet time to plan their own surge when the time is right - US troops whether McCain or a Dem is in charge WILL be reduced when thins seem quiet enough -and that's when the enem/enemies will strike and launch their civil war.
There's no doubt also that al quaeda's 'ground force's are on the run - but their suicide bombers can still lurk anywhere in Iraq. All they need to do / and are doing is to keep maintaining 2 or 3 horrid suicide attacks a month to keep things destabilized there.
Note how the media over here now rarely mentions the suicide attacks in Iraq. They're in'Surge is working' mode. Just like they ignored Afghanistan has been in worse shape.

Finally why did the Surge 'work'. 'Awakening Alliance'- the Sunni private armies that are contesting al quaeda. The Surge is only progressing in terms of territory due to the Awakening Alliance 'watching the six' of the the Surge's tail. The amount of US troops freed up by this comfort in not having to leave considerable troops back to solidify gained ground is an impressive reason for the successes - not to mention al Sadr's militias being quiet in Baghdad -temporarily. Then another reason things are calmed - the ethnic cleansing of neighbourhoods by gangs of demons succeeded to the point where there were no more 'undesirables' left to kill - so it appeared they had been stopped when in fact they had themselves no reason to continue their mayhem.
So that are measuring success in Iraq from a tunnel-minded vision need to look at the bigger picture, and the reality in total the mainstream media are failing to let you know about - and in fact are misleading you about. It's not too difficult to find out how everything is currently balanced on the edge of a blade over there.

By no stretch of the imigination did the governmet handle the start of things correctly. They did quickly beat the republican guard but they did not have a plan on anything else. It has taken a long time to realize the new role that needed to be done.
Rummsfeld was warned by gernerals that his light force plan was not going to work for phase 2 but he stuck with it anyway. The military was able to control sectors but did not have the presence to shut anything down.
They also had an early oppertunity to work with the tribal leaders in regions and turned them down out of arragonce or stupidty. We are having some success because we are now working with the tribal leaders and showing them the respect they deserved. as well as having an Iraqi troops trained.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/20...la-tribal_N.htm

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...toryId=16211974

A couple of graphs.

http://newsbusters.org/static/2008/02/2008-02-25Surge.JPG

http://newsbusters.org/static/2008/02/2008-02-25Surge2.JPG

and a story
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/20...qcongress_N.htm


I would suggest that the reason the casualty numbers and attacks did not drop at the start of the surge was because we started to go into the terrorist strongholds and hunt them down. Now they are more scattered or killed and they are running out of strongholds. Being on the offensive EVERYWHERE has helped.

The Iraqi council is making progress....
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...,0,969545.story
but there is still work to do...
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gkx-3oY...s98w8wD8V2TU9G1

Re-read the Usa-today story. Is that the political progress they wanted?
Or will they move the goalpost again?
ou know, they won't have elections, they wont be able to elect a government, they cant get a constitution...

I think it's really silly for people to stand over here in the states and tell a fledgling democracy Hurry up and get this major of a task done on this exact timeline or you are all failures.

I believe it took 5 years before germany was a country and I think they were a lot closer to being a truer country than Iraq was under Sadam.