U.S. troop deaths in Iraq at wartime low

[Bosh]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


I can criticize McCain for many aspects of his Iraq policy, but to try an attribute such cowardly, callous calculation as you suggest is not one of him. The North Vietnamese offered him a Get Out Of Jail Free card because of his dad's position, and McCain refused to take it. He has personal integrity up the ying yang.

Personal bravery up the ying yang, yes. Personal integrity, not so much (see: Mrs. McCain v1.0).

[germanos]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Dan, you are ignoring that the Pentagon's original plan called for flooding the country with soldiers from day one just to get the kind of control Patraeus is only now getting. Cheney and Rumsfield vetoed the Pentagon's original plan of 500,000 troops (enough to effectively occupy and control the country from day one) because they feared to many casualties.

And perhaps they would have been right...

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Wiglaf


What an obvious edit. I think you are one of those operatives who goes back, and deletes historical documents or accidentally "misplaces" books to throw off the IRS. That was sexy in the 60s but now is more like wearing Bermuda shorts in the lockerroom, it's just gay. I should just stop talking to you since China probably is nuking Taiwan as we speak and I'd be wasting my breath.

How could I have edited it 10 minutes later without the message indicating that it was editted appearing, you crazy person?

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


I can criticize McCain for many aspects of his Iraq policy, but to try an attribute such cowardly, callous calculation as you suggest is not one of him. The North Vietnamese offered him a Get Out Of Jail Free card because of his dad's position, and McCain refused to take it. He has personal integrity up the ying yang.

I don't suggest anything like that. I only state that McCain has nothing to lose from continuing the war. Take it how you like.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


Though his son was over there. I don't know if he going to be back.

edit: to add, you may not know about that because McCain had not made it part of his campaign, even though it would have been of great use in the Republican primaries.

I don't know anything about McCain. I just make stuff up.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by DaShi
I don't suggest anything like that. I only state that McCain has nothing to lose from continuing the war. Take it how you like.

The son thing disproves your statement

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


Though his son was over there. I don't know if he going to be back.

edit: to add, you may not know about that because McCain had not made it part of his campaign, even though it would have been of great use in the Republican primaries.

I have to give McCain, or at least his son props for this, the rest of the political class had their families safely tucked away outside of the military while they kept saying how good the war is and how other people's kids should go off and fight it. It seems despite privilege did instill a sense of patriotic duty into his son.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


The son thing disproves your statement

Except that his son isn't there now. Learn to read kid.

[DaShi]

Damn, this is getting so easy it's not fun anymore.

[Ramo]

From the article:

The number of Iraqi civilians killed in the same month plunged to 505 after reaching a seven-month high of 968 in April, figures obtained by Reuters from Iraq's interior, defence and health ministries showed.

May seems calm, but Iraqi political violence rates are pretty erratic. You also saw a lot of urban warfare, the sort of thing that doesn't lend itself to neat body counts..

[Wiglaf]

Originally posted by DaShi


Except that his son isn't there now. Learn to read kid.

You really know nothing.

Jack McCain, 21, is to graduate from the Naval Academy next year, raising the chances that his father, if elected, could become the first president since Dwight D. Eisenhower with a son at war.

And the other kid is going to have to have a second tour I bet. Get nuked already.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Wiglaf


You really know nothing.



And the other kid is going to have to have a second tour I bet. Get nuked already.

:yawn: Until he does, my point stands, get laid.

[Agathon]

So the Americans are cowering in their bunkers and not getting killed. Not news.

[Patroklos]

:yawn: Until he does, my point stands, get laid.

No, it doesn't. A prolonged war virtually guarantees he will be deployed for another tour.

It seems despite privilege did instill a sense of patriotic duty into his son.

I believe the last time we discussed this in terms of the myth of minorities recieiving disproportionate front line service/casualties we also discovered the upper income classes were disproportinately represented in both service and casualties.

I agreew with you about politicians though. Kudos to Linsdey Gramhm for serving in Iraq while a US Senator.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Holy crap this from the WaPo??

The Iraqi Upturn
Don't look now, but the U.S.-backed government and army may be winning the war.

THERE'S BEEN a relative lull in news coverage and debate about Iraq in recent weeks -- which is odd, because May could turn out to have been one of the most important months of the war. While Washington's attention has been fixed elsewhere, military analysts have watched with astonishment as the Iraqi government and army have gained control for the first time of the port city of Basra and the sprawling Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, routing the Shiite militias that have ruled them for years and sending key militants scurrying to Iran. At the same time, Iraqi and U.S. forces have pushed forward with a long-promised offensive in Mosul, the last urban refuge of al-Qaeda. So many of its leaders have now been captured or killed that U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, renowned for his cautious assessments, said that the terrorists have "never been closer to defeat than they are now."

Iraq passed a turning point last fall when the U.S. counterinsurgency campaign launched in early 2007 produced a dramatic drop in violence and quelled the incipient sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites. Now, another tipping point may be near, one that sees the Iraqi government and army restoring order in almost all of the country, dispersing both rival militias and the Iranian-trained "special groups" that have used them as cover to wage war against Americans. It is -- of course -- too early to celebrate; though now in disarray, the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr could still regroup, and Iran will almost certainly seek to stir up new violence before the U.S. and Iraqi elections this fall. Still, the rapidly improving conditions should allow U.S. commanders to make some welcome adjustments -- and it ought to mandate an already-overdue rethinking by the "this-war-is-lost" caucus in Washington, including Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).


Gen. David H. Petraeus signaled one adjustment in recent testimony to Congress, saying that he would probably recommend troop reductions in the fall going beyond the ongoing pullback of the five "surge" brigades deployed last year. Gen. Petraeus pointed out that attacks in Iraq hit a four-year low in mid-May and that Iraqi forces were finally taking the lead in combat and on multiple fronts at once -- something that was inconceivable a year ago. As a result the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki now has "unparalleled" public support, as Gen. Petraeus put it, and U.S. casualties are dropping sharply. Eighteen American soldiers died in May, the lowest total of the war and an 86 percent drop from the 126 who died in May 2007.

If the positive trends continue, proponents of withdrawing most U.S. troops, such as Mr. Obama, might be able to responsibly carry out further pullouts next year. Still, the likely Democratic nominee needs a plan for Iraq based on sustaining an improving situation, rather than abandoning a failed enterprise. That will mean tying withdrawals to the evolution of the Iraqi army and government, rather than an arbitrary timetable; Iraq's 2009 elections will be crucial. It also should mean providing enough troops and air power to continue backing up Iraqi army operations such as those in Basra and Sadr City. When Mr. Obama floated his strategy for Iraq last year, the United States appeared doomed to defeat. Now he needs a plan for success.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/31/AR2008053101927.html