No Drop in Iraq Violence Seen Since Troop Buildup - (Surge Failing)

[Breeze54]

No Drop in Iraq Violence Seen Since Troop Buildup

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, June 14, 2007; Page A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/13/AR2007061302357.html

Three months into the new U.S. military strategy that has sent tens of thousands of additional troops into Iraq, overall levels of violence in the country have not decreased, as attacks have shifted away from Baghdad and Anbar, where American forces are concentrated, only to rise in most other provinces, according to a Pentagon report released yesterday.

The report -- the first comprehensive statistical overview of the new U.S. military strategy in Iraq -- coincided with renewed fears of sectarian violence after the bombing yesterday of the same Shiite shrine north of Baghdad that was attacked in February 2006, unleashing a spiral of retaliatory bloodshed. Iraq's government imposed an immediate curfew in Baghdad yesterday to prevent an outbreak of revenge killings.

Yesterday's attack adds to tensions faced by U.S. troops, who are paying a mounting price in casualties as they push into Iraqi neighborhoods, seeking to quell violence that the report said remains fundamentally driven by sectarianism.

Snip-->

Overall, however, violence "has increased in most provinces, particularly in the outlying areas of Baghdad province and Diyala and Ninewa provinces," the report said. In Diyala's restive capital of Baqubah, U.S. and Iraq forces "have been unable to diminish rising sectarian violence contributing to the volatile security situation," it said.

More........

Unabated Violence

The number of attacks in Iraq has remained unchanged since the recent increase of U.S. forces into the country.

BRING THE TROOPS HOME....... NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:grr:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1106968">Last 24 Hours in Iraq --- "Surge" working well".... :sarcasm:

[Wetzelbill]

1. See that's just trying to undermine the troops by....um....

pointing out...uh... inconvenient facts.

[ClintonTyree]

2. As predicted....

U.S. troops are playing a game of 'insurgent whack-a-mole'. Wherever the U.S. troops aren't, that's where you'll find the most "insurgent" activity. With the Iraqi army and police unwilling or unable to handle the most mundane operations on their own, America's presence is guaranteed for years to come IF the Bushbots get their way.

And the charts continuing to use the term "coalition forces"..... :rofl: Yes, please tell me all about the U.S. led "coalition", by all means. :rofl: Unfortunately the American troops aren't laughing.

[Breeze54]

4. Hey?? Albania has 100 'troops' in Iraq!!!

There is a coalition!!! :sarcasm:

[Elspeth]

9. That's not an army. That's a DMV line.

Jeez!

[Breeze54]

10. lmao!!

Good point!! :rofl:

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Elspeth]

12. Thanks!

:hi:

[sweettater]

3. Need I point out the obvious

The Iraqi army will never be up to par. Why? Who will they side with, us? or their "brothers"? God Almighty, anyone with any sense knows Blood is thicker than Water.

[Breeze54]

5. Several Sunni mosques in Iraq attacked

Several Sunni mosques in Iraq attacked

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070614/sunni_mosques_070614/20070614?hub=TopStories

Updated Thu. Jun. 14 2007 6:23 AM ET

Associated Press

BAGHDAD --

A handful of Sunni mosques were attacked or burned Thursday, but curfews and increased troop levels kept Iraq in relative calm a day after suspected al Qaeda bombers toppled the towering minarets of a prized Shiite shrine.

Wednesday's attack on the Askariya shrine in Samarra, which was blamed on Sunni extremists with links to al Qaeda, stoked fears of a surge in violence between Muslim sects. A bombing at the same mosque complex in February 2006 that destroyed the shrine's famed golden dome unleashed a bloodbath of reprisals.

Increased U.S. and Iraqi military patrols crisscrossed the streets of the Iraqi capital, and additional checkpoints were set up along roads leading to Sadr City, witnesses said.

Hundreds of residents marched peacefully through the streets of that teeming neighborhood, a stronghold of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. Demonstrations also took place in Kut, Diwaniyah, Najaf and Basra -- all predominantly Shiite cities in the south.

A ban on vehicular traffic was expected to remain in place in Baghdad until Saturday.

Attacks on Sunni mosques began within hours of Wednesday's bombings in Samarra.

Police in the southern city of Basra said Thursday that four people were killed and six wounded in attacks on the Kawaz, Othman, al-Abayshi and Basra Grand mosques on Wednesday, all involving rocket-propelled grenades that also damaged the buildings. Basra is Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Four Sunni mosques near Baghdad also were attacked or burned within several hours of the Samarra bombings, police said.

More........

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[stewert]

6. And it Never Will

Lets say Russia invaded the USA, removed Bush, got rid of everyone in the military and the police forces, then occupied the country, started a new military and police force, had new elections and put a puppet Government in place, then asked the people to support that Government, and asked the people in the military and the police force to fight for that puppet Government, and do it all with 150,000 foreign troops in the country.

Would you do it?

Hell no, and neither will the people of Iraq.

[Breeze54]

7. Good point!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Breeze54]

8. Iraq surge a failure, top Democrats tell Bush

Iraq surge a failure, top Democrats tell Bush

http://www.anatoliantimes.com/hbr2.asp?id=&s=int&a=070613222816.zq1m7a3g

06-14-2007

Top US congressional Democrats bluntly told President George W. Bush Wednesday that his Iraq
troop "surge" policy was a failure, as the Pentagon submitted a report saying early results
of the strategy were mixed.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi challenged
the president over Iraq by sending him a letter ahead of a White House meeting later on Wednesday.

The Pentagon report, delivered to Congress, is a quarterly report on progress on the war in Iraq mandated by law.

The escalation "has failed to produce the intended results," Reid and Pelosi wrote, saying that
the larger US force "has had little impact in curbing the violence or fostering political reconciliation.

"It has not enhanced Americas national security. The unsettling reality is that instances
of violence against Iraqis remain high and attacks on US forces have increased.

"In fact, the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for US troops."

snip-->

On Tuesday, Reid said that Senate Democrats would attach troop withdrawal deadlines
to a Defense Department Authorization bill, due to be debated within weeks.

The next critical point in the showdown between Bush and Congress over Iraq is expected
in September, when US commander in Iraq David Petraeus is due to report on progress in
the strategy to "surge" up to 30,000 more US troops into the war-ravaged nation.

Even senior Republicans have said they expected the president will have little choice
but to make adjustments in the Iraq strategy, once the report is made public.

WASHINGTON (AFP)


More.........

Where are all the people who told me and others we were full of shit concerning the surge???
Remember? When it was being proposed and voted on??
Remember all the arguments on DU then? Where are they now??? :shrug: Huh??

[Breeze54]

11. 'We have made a deal with the devil'

'We have made a deal with the devil'

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/2675

Soldiers form uneasy alliance with militants

The war effort in Iraq has become so desperate that U.S. soldiers now fight
alongside insurgents who have attacked and killed Americans in the past.

As one intelligence officer puts it: "We have made a deal with the devil."

And while some American soldiers call the uneasy alliance "encouraging" others
wonder if this "deal with the devil" will become just another blunder in a war
of blunders.

Writes Joshua Partlow of The Washington Post: ...

snip-->

"This is a defining moment for us," said Kuehl, who commands the 1st Battalion, 5th
Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 1st Infantry Division.

But aligning Americans with fighters whose long-term agenda remains unclear -- with regard
to either Americans or the Shiite-led government -- is also a strategy born of desperation.
It contradicts repeated declarations by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that no groups besides
the Iraqi and American security forces are allowed to bear arms. And some American soldier
worry that standing up a Sunni militia could have dire consequences if the group turns on
its U.S. partners.

"We have made a deal with the devil," said an intelligence officer in the battalion.


... more