They could have asked me, months earlier, if the invasion was a good idea or not.
Iraq's military is drawing up plans on how to cope in case the U.S. military quickly pulls its forces from the country, the defense minister said Monday.Iran's secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq:
Iran is secretly forging ties with al-Qaida elements and Sunni Arab militias in Iraq in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition forces intended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full military withdrawal, US officials say.U.S. Imperial Ambitions Thwart Iraqis' Peace Plans:
Iraq's resistance groups have offered a series of peace plans that might put an end to the country's sectarian violence, but they've been ignored by the U.S.-led coalition because they're opposed to foreign occupation and privatization of oil.posted by kirkaracha at 7:54 AM on May 22, 2007
The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday.After the Surge:
This "second surge" of troops in Iraq, which is being executed by extending tours for brigades already there and by deploying more units, could boost the number of combat troops to as many as 98,000 by the end of this year. When support troops are included, the total number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase from 162,000 now to more than 200,000 -- the most ever -- by the end of the year.
President Bush and his senior military and foreign policy advisers are beginning to discuss a "post-surge" strategy for Iraq that they hope could gain bipartisan political support. The new policy would focus on training and advising Iraqi troops rather than the broader goal of achieving a political reconciliation in Iraq, which senior officials recognize may be unachievable within the time available.
Sunni Arab guerrillas in Iraq ran a sophisticated sting on US troops in Diyala province on Memorial Day, killing 8 GIs. First, they shot down a helicopter with small arms fire. Two servicemen died in the crash. The guerrillas knew that a rescue team would come out to the site. So they planted a roadside bomb that killed the rescuers. And, they knew that yet another rescue team would come out to see what happened to the first. So they planted roadside bombs and destroyed the second team, as well. Altogether 6 rescuers were blown up in this way. The guerrillas run this routine on Iraqi police and troops in the capital all the time. As US troops increasingly take on policing duties, they become vulnerable to the same operations that have wrought such mayhem on Iraqi security forces.posted by acro at 10:43 AM on May 30, 2007
« Older The current edition of Words Without Borders featu... | Lolcat Buildr.... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Many of Iraq's leaders are out of the country, a feuding Iraqi parliament is going on vacation, and the Bush administration might install new leadership in fully-sovereign Iraq, as Moqtada al-Sadr is moving to the center. The Iraq war has created the largest refugee problem in the Middle East since 1948; 50,000 people leave Iraq per month and an estimated two million Iraqis have fled the country since the invasion.
Who could have predicted things would go wrong? Two National Intelligence Council assessments in January 2003 predicted that overthrowing Saddam Hussein occupying Iraq would lead to internal violence and boost terrorism throughout the Middle East.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:04 PM on May 21, 2007