Two Top Papers: New U.S. Offensives in Iraq Faltering

[babylonsister]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003602771

Two Top Papers: New U.S. Offensives in Iraq Faltering

By E&P Staff

Published: June 23, 2007 9:55 AM ET

NEW YORK Front-page reports in the Saturday editions of The New York Times and The Washington Post by two of the leading writers on the war cast grave doubts on the likely success of the two major U.S. military operations in Iraq. One relates to the latest effort to secure Baghdad, the other to the new drive in Baquba.

Meanwhile, eight American servicemen were reported today to have been killed in Iraq, bringing the four-day death toll to at least 25.

The Post's Thomas Ricks tackles the first military plan: "The major U.S. offensive launched last weekend against insurgents in and around Baghdad...has renewed concerns about whether even the bigger U.S. troop presence there is large enough.

"As the U.S. offensive, code-named Phantom Thunder, has been greeted with a week of intensified fighting in areas outside the capital -- areas that the U.S. military has largely left untouched for as long as three years -- the push raised fears from security experts and officers in the field that the new attacks might simply propel the enemy from one area to another where there are not as many U.S. troops....

"Retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, who in 2003 was among the first to call public attention to the relatively small size of the U.S. invasion force, said that the new operation shows how outnumbered U.S. troops remain. 'Why would we think that a temporary presence of 30,000 additional combat troops in a giant city would change the dynamics of a bitter civil war?' he said in an interview yesterday. 'It's a fool's errand.'

snip//

Meanwhile, at The New York Times, John Burns offers this assessment: "The operational commander of troops battling to drive fighters with Al Qaeda from Baquba said Friday that 80 percent of the top Qaeda leaders in the city fled before the American-led offensive began earlier this week. He compared their flight with the escape of Qaeda leaders from Falluja ahead of an American offensive that recaptured that city in 2004.

more...

[genie_weenie]

1. not sure how many times it has to been pointed out

but, in guerrilla warfare the smaller side (formerly known as insurgents now declared by Imperial Bush Fiat to ALL be Al Qaeda) will always avoid being fixed and destroyed.

The large concentration of forces we have for ARROWHEAD RIPPER is a joke. The insurgents only have to relocate and wait. Or relocate and continue their operations in a new location.

This is precisely what happened in Fallujah prior to and during PHANTOM FURY (how ironic a name, since many US Marines have had to gin up their fury at a people who never attacked us), "the enemy" left and most of those killed where innocent civilians.

But, shit in war as Rumsfeld stated, "things happen and democracy is messy". And so We, the People condemn another 2000 americans and another 50000 iraqis to death.

So, what do we learn. Nothing. And on the home front, where the battle for control of the giant governmental apparatus continues. The warmongers and blind bush supporters continue to scour the web from their fighting keyboard holes and declare anyone who says the surge is a poorly constructed military plan or who rightly declare the war to be monstrous, wrong, and making the world and the US less safe as a traitor, coward and emboldener of "the enemy".

sigh...

[sendero]

2. anyone who thought

... this could work is delusional, including our illustrious political and military leaders.

We can spend 10 more years rearranging the deck chairs, or we can leave and let the Iraqis sort it out.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Wait for it.."All we need is more troops, more money, and more time."

Followed by, "We have to fund the surge, because we have to support the troops".

Followed by, "We didn't have the votes."

Followed by, "We will set absolute deadlines in a future bill.."

Followed by, "We have plans to have the troops home by 2050..if the president approves."

[genie_weenie]

4. Why do you hate Johnny Soldier?

1. Stay the Course.
2. Staying the Course is making progress.
3. We need to fund the troops, only terrorist-lovers and america-haters wouldn't fund the troops.
4. Give the New Way Forward a chance.
5. The New Way Forward is making progress.
6. We need to fund the troops, only al qaeda-lovers and america-haters wouldn't fund the troops.
7. Give The Surge a chance.
8. The Surge is making progress.
9. We need to fund the troops, only those destined for Blackwater prisons wouldn't fund the troops.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

5. "Faltering",...not FAILING, of course.

[leftchick]

6. they are not reporting

all they are doing is repeating the US military version of events handed to them daily. What a fucking joke. Except for all of the dead
bodies. :(

[xchrom]

7. quelle surprise

[catmandu57]

8. Not according to NBC news

Let me do this upfront so I won't be misconstrued :sarcasm: For the past few evenings nbc has been assuring me that we're kicking al aquada's ass to holy hell in Iraq, the good general betrayus personally flew over the fight and rode in an armored vehicle to see for himself just how well the asskicking is going.
I'm afraid that if they keep this up we're not going to have a tv, I'm going to progress from screaming at it to throwing things at it.

[wiggs]

9. Iraq resolution will be more propaganda than military. nt