AP: Iraq Insurgency Shows No Sign of Abating

[Hissyspit]

Can you say "duh..."?

http://start.earthlink.net/article/int?guid=20051023/435b0ac0_3ca6_1552620051023-1598531853

Iraq Insurgency Shows No Signs of Abating

BAGHDAD, Iraq - With the grim milestone of the 2,000th U.S. military death looming in Iraq, many wonder about the direction of the insurgency that killed most of them.

Experts think the country's increasingly regional-oriented politics will fuel the insurgency and even spread it further inside Iraq. Others put forward a simple, disquieting scenario: So long as U.S. and other foreign troops remain in Iraq, the insurgency will continue.

"It will become more chaotic," predicted Magnus Ranstorp of the Swedish National Defense College in Stockholm, Sweden. "It is obvious that the United States is in Iraq to stay. If this is the case, the Shiites will likely join the Sunnis in the fight."

- snip -

Last week proved to be one of the bloodiest for U.S. troops, with 23 killed, many in restive Anbar province. That raised to 1,996 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press Count.

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[tuvor]

1. Well, when the insurgents are just Iraqi citizens, and when

85% of Iraqis want the USA out of their country, what else could you expect?

This is a bloody no-brainer!

[BarbaRosa]

2. but, but

but I thought they were on the last legs?:shrug:

[The Night Owl]

3. The insurgency must not have gotten Cheney's memo about...

The insurgency must not have gotten Cheney's memo about the insurgency being kaput.

[Supersedeas]

6. Condi is all of it

[FlyByNight]

4. So much for "last throes"

:mad:

[Karenina]

5. History repeating itself...

http://hnn.us/comments/8770.html

"ARMED with high-tech weapons and even higher expectations, a British Army marches on Baghdad to take control of the oilfields and topple a brutal regime.

Instead, the invaders get bogged down in the foetid marshes and broiling deserts; the enemy refuses to run away; soldiers perish in their thousands and Britain suffers one of its worst military defeats.

Even when regime change is finally brought about, the Iraqi people rise in rebellion and are cowed only by a ferocious aerial bombardment. There is talk of chemical weapons and the occupation drags on, draining blood and treasure, year after year. This may sound like Tony Blair's nightmare, the worst-case scenario of the looming conflict. In fact, it is the story of Britain's first invasion of Iraq and provides an uncomfortable echo of the events unfolding today.

Then, the soldiers were clad in First World War uniforms; Baghdad was part of the Ottoman Empire and the enemy were Turks. The threat to use poison gas came not from President Saddam Hussein, but from Lawrence of Arabia and Winston Churchill."