General claims 50,000 Iraqi insurgents killed or captured (7 months)

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050726-093122-5517r

General claims 50,000 Iraqi insurgents killed or captured
The Washington Times

WASHINGTON -- U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed or arrested more than 50,000 Iraqi insurgents in the past seven months, a former top general who has headed repeated Pentagon assessment missions to Iraq said yesterday.

Gen. Jack Keane, a former deputy chief of staff for the Army, also said the United States has a good picture of the leadership of the vicious insurgency but less of an idea about its mid- and lower-level ranks.

"We know who they are," he told a lunch gathering sponsored by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He said the eight to 10 leaders "occasionally meet -- we've recorded that -- not just in Iraq, but in Jordan and Syria."

Gen. Keane's remarks provided a rare insight into the extent of U.S.-led operations against an insurgency that has been responsible for hundreds of deaths in the past few weeks alone.

<</SNIP>>

[neweurope]

1. At the rate they're going won't be many left before long.

But then who needs Iraqis as long as you have their country?

-------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[sabra]

2. 50k over 7 months! That is an insane rate....

[Rex]

29. We killed millions of Vietnamese

in Vietnam so it is not that insane. I wonder the true numbers on innocent Iraqi civilians killed since March 2003. From what I've read, we give out 'blood money' to victim's families. :(

[Drifter]

3. When you kill a fly ...

5 more attend the funeral. The same is true of Iraqi "Insurgents".

Cheers
Drifter

[bribri16]

33. They count civilian Iraqis as "insurgents" n/t

[neweurope]

35. Yes, they do. I want to see them all in The Hague.

-----------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[Frederik]

4. So how come it's as fierce as ever?

[xchrom]

5. 50, 000?!?!-- something smells fishy in denmark.

[Roland99]

6. Bull-Fvcking-Sh*t! Note the language used. "Killed *or* arrested"

I'd bet my last dollar that 95% of that 50,000 were "arrested" and I'd bet my future earnings that a good 2/3 to 3/4 (or more) have already been released.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. And the insurgents killed includes any Iraqi male between

16 and 60 killed by US forces, no matter the circumstances of the killing. That's how you keep the insurgent deaths high and the civilian deaths low.

[Roland99]

31. And who's going to question the DoD's numbers? The MSM? HA!

[hobbit709]

7. Reminds me of the scene

in "Path To War" where the general is telling LBJ and Clark Clifford after the Tet offensive that they need another 200,000 troops to win the war. Clifford's response was "General, according to your figures we've killed 120% of the enemy, why are they still shooting at us?"
More of the same-ESTIMATED body counts and even the real bodies aren't separated into actual fighters and innocent civilians.

[Strelnikov_]

8. Yep. They Were Telling Us Last Fall That The Insurgency

was only 5,000 to 10,000 fighters.

[StrafingMoose]

9. Ahh the old fashioned body counts..

Like in 'Nam...

[Jacobin]

10. Beat me too it

I remember those well.....every night, more 'enemy' killed, light at the end of the tunnel.....etc etc etc.

50,000 Iraqis dead and millions more Iraqis thereby motivated to join the insurgency to drive out the occupying forces.

[StrafingMoose]

12. Yup, the chaos isn't stopped..

so they resort to the body count technique :D

[wookie294]

13. Iraqi government says there are 200,000 insurgents

Looks like we just created more insurgents....

"We can't kill them all," Lt. Col. Frederick P. Wellman said. "When I kill one I create three."

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/11879336.htm

[The Night Owl]

14. How ironic. It seems like just yesterday we were laughing at Baghdad Bob.

How ironic. It seems like just yesterday we were laughing at Baghdad Bob for his exaggerations. Now we are laughing at our own Baghdad Bobs... Bush, Cheney, and their yes-men.

[atreides1]

15. Westmoreland Lied Too

That and he paid little attention to the facts of the situation in Vietnam, so now we have General Keane doing the Westmoreland Two Step.

When will these idiots ever learn?

[MidwestTransplant]

16. But if there are just a "handful of dead enders," doesn't that mean

many innocent must be in prison?

[Laughing Mirror]

17. Pentagon: "We don't do Iraqi body counts"

So how could Gen. Keane possibly know?

Maybe he's just making this number up out of the thin air. It's a nice high round number, after all. Seems like it's a lot more than coalition troop deaths and casualties. It's about double, isn't it? Or is it?

[obxhead]

18. If your an Iraqi and you know it

you better freakin hide because they're coming for you. How many will have to die for failed intel and greed. If I we're Iraqi I would hate us too.

[phillinweird247]

20. If I were an Iraqi...

I would try to kill every last one of the foriegn invaders occupying my homeland. But I'm an american and guess what, if we were invaded by any outside force I'd try to kill every last one of them as well.
It's all a matter of perspective really.

[obxhead]

23. I agree

but Iraq did not invade us.

[phillinweird247]

26. I know, that was my point.

If we were invaded would you not fight?
That is what the Iraqi's are doing.
I don't condemn them one bit for fighting us. We brought this to them and they didn't even have anything to do with 9-11.

Terrorist or Freedom fighter its all about perspective

[RaleighNCDUer]

37. There was no failed intel.

There was only ignored intel. Plus a lot of made up shit.

[manic expression]

19. WOW

This is getting pathetic.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Barrett808]

21. And yet the insurgency is as strong as ever, arguably stronger

So this is good news?

[K8-EEE]

22. How Many Times Did They Say There Were "About 3,000" Total?

Do you remember all the years of post-invasion BS about "a few dead enders" and "a few dissidents."

So hey were they WRONG WRONG WRONG about that or are the creating terrorism with this occupation/puppet government -- OR BOTH?

I say both...

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

[lumpy]

24. Keane is a retired General

What is his motivation for distributing this news? What purpose does this serve? There are many inconstistencies in the article. The only conclusion one can make is that it is a huge mess and it isn't going to get any better. Bush should pick up his marbles and get the hell out.

[AKing]

25. Just kill everyone and take the guesswork out of it! NT

[ramapo]

27. There's light at the end of the tunnel

This was a favorite Vietnam-era refrain for you youngsters.

Times change, but the BS doesn't.

[samsingh]

28. i think he's counting civilians as insurgents

[no_to_war_economy]

30. what a relief it will be when

we kill the last terrorist

[number6]

32. color me skeptical

:smoke:

General claims 50,000 Iraqi insurgents killed or captured

ya right

[Chicago Democrat]

34. Is that a good thing?

seems a reasonable estimate.

[Zorra]

36. Rah Rah! Sis Boom Bah! Kill all Iraqis! Rah Rah Rah!

:shrug:
I mean, ain't it just so totally cool to kill people from another country that you invaded, a country that was not any threat to your country whatsoever, just because they were defending their homes?

Groovy baby. Let's KILL! Oh, isn't it just so, mmmm, SEXY?