US reports slump in Baghdad killings

[nodular]

Well, it seems to be true (see below). Killings are down in Iraq since the surge started (unless the US and Iraqi government are simply lying, which does not seem to be the case).

It is amazing and hard to believe or make sense of.

Of course, the US has at the same time engaged Iran and Syria in talks designed to reduce their intervention in Iraq, which could also be a factor.

I simply do not believe this is some miraculous "solution" to the Iraqi situation. No doubt in my mind, we will be in deep trouble there in the future at some point.

But I am starting to wonder if they can clam the situation for awhile. Could it last until November 2008? This would surely impact the next election, just as the deteriorating Iraq situation impacted the last one. McCain and Guillianni are both on record as supporting the surge.

Can anyone figure this out?


Jay Deshmukh
AFP
March 14, 2007

http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070314-104236-8162r


"BAGHDAD -- Killings and attacks in Baghdad have slumped significantly since the launch of a security plan one month ago, US officials said Wednesday, even as car bombs claimed more lives in the capital.

"'There has been an over 50 percent reduction in murders and executions,' since Operation Fardh Al Qanoon (Imposing Law) began, the spokesman for US forces in Iraq, Major General William Caldwell, told reporters in Baghdad...

"...But despite the flood of troops, violence flared again in Baghdad, with a security official reporting two civilians killed in a suicide car bombing in southwest Yarmuk district while the US military reported another three US soldiers killed in roadside bombs.

"Elsewhere in the country, police were in the firing line, with three policemen, one of them a general, shot dead in the north of the country and the bullet-riddled bodies of two abducted policemen found dumped in the central city of Diwaniyah."

[gatorboy]

1. Are you kidding me?

Did you read this gem?

"A total of 265 civilians and 57 military men, including nine officers, have been killed since the plan kicked off February 14," Mussawi said. This compared with the preceding month when 1,440 people were killed.

256 civilian deaths. Only the Bush admin. could call this "progress". Any word on the rest if Iraq?

[nodular]

3. It's still a very bad situation, agreed.

But nonetheless, it is progress. Good point about the rest of Iraq. Not sure.

[medeak]

2. my cousin is in Iraq organizing provincial govts in villages

He's been there two weeks...spent a year of training for language and culture..

He and 3 young men.. all alone traveling from village to village. Asked for soccer balls to give to civilians.

Troops are being urged to make an effort to leave camps and be more visible and interact.... they say they are "feeling an enormous difference" in a good way.

[nodular]

4. Well-intentioned stuff, no doubt,

but hardly new ideas. We've kept the troops in camps, sent them into the population, tried everything before. It all goes sour over time and I believe this will too.

I'm just amazed they even had temporary success and I wonder if they can stretch it out to impact the next cmapaign.

[medeak]

5. this is what he's doing

was worried he was doing special ops as called back at age 45 and had that sort of career.

http://iraq.usembassy.gov/iraq/20060223_prt_fact_sheet.html

[Jackeen]

6. Out of interest, what's your priority?

You seem more worried about the impact of the Iraq Plan on the 2008 elections than on whether or not it has a chance of helping to fix Iraq. I don't care if the relative calm lasts until Nov08, I am more interested in seeing if it lasts long enough for the Iraqi government to sort itself out and figure out how to win over the populace (Assuming that the Iraqi government can actually bring itself to do that)

[nodular]

7. I no longer believe it is possible for the US to stabilize Iraq.

If it were possible for us to achieve such a result so easily and quickly, obviously the surge would be worth it. But frankly, I think the idea that a 30,000-man troop surge lasting 6 months could stabilize Iraq is a complete fantasy. The size of the required solution is off by one or two orders of magnitude---both in troops and time.

I don't seriously consider it as a possibility---which leaves me free to address the political implications. In any case, I don't believe many people in the Bush administration are looking at it very differently from myself. (But no, I don't have insider info.)

[bemildred]

8. I just love happy talk.

Roundup of Iraq Violence -- April 7, 2007
By Hussein Kadhim
McClatchy Newspaper

The Iraq violence report is compiled by McClatchy Newspapers in Baghdad from police, military and medical reports. This is not a comprehensive list of all violence in Iraq, much of which goes unreported. It’s posted without editing as transmitted to McClatchy’s Washington Bureau.

Baghdad

- Around 9.15 am till now clashes between gunmen and the Iraqi army in Al-Fadhil neighborhood near Bab Al-Muatham killed a guard of the municipality directorate of Al-Rusafa with two civilian injured.

- Around 10 am a roadside bomb exploded in Ishreen street in Bayaa neighborhood injuring two civilians.

KR (Continues)

[bemildred]

9. Fighting continues south of Baghdad

Heavy fighting is reported to be continuing in the Iraqi city of Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad.

American and Iraqi Government forces have been clashing with Shiite Muslim militiamen from the Mahdi Army, which has been blamed for a recent upsurge in killings in the city.

American jets have been bombing targets in and around Diwaniyah.

On the ground, US troops using tanks and supported by some Iraqi units have been battling Shiite militiamen at close quarters.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1892154.htm