http://dailyscare.com/1597/al-qaeda-in-mesopotamia-the-numbers-just-dont-add-upA. Alexander
When Mister Bush started his war, Iraq was a nation of some 28 million people. According to the best scientific estimates, the President's war has reduced the population by nearly a million (600,000) souls. Obviously in a country where every hospital is spinning on a wheel of endless violence and where triage is about all health care professionals have time to accomplish, keeping babies alive long enough to replace those lost to bombs and chaos just wouldn't seem possible. Then, too, there are the two million Iraqis who've fled their country because the violence made living impossible. So, for the sake of argument, let's assume there to be 25 million people currently living in Iraq.
Of that 25 million people, the best intelligence estimates -- both U.S. and international agencies -- place the number of Iraq's insurgent forces at approximately 20,000 combatants. Every -- not some, not a few, not most...every -- domestic and international intelligence analysis has determined that the 20,000-strong Iraq insurgency is comprised of approximately two-to-five percent of foreign fighters.
Understand, these are numbers that have NEVER been disputed ... not even by Dick Cheney. Remember, Cheney was the guy who had completely deluded himself into believing everything was going so well in Iraq that he claimed, two years ago, that the insurgency was in its last throes. Not even a person suffering from self-delusion of Cheney's magnitude, has questioned the statistics cited above.
The point is this: Two-to-five percent of 20,000 means that at any onetime, there have only ever been between 400 and 1,000 foreign fighters in Iraq. Realistically speaking, most of the foreigners fighting in Iraq probably migrated there on their own. That is to say, they're just a bunch of guys with hopes of finally getting their chance to take some shots at Americans. But, giving the Bush administration and the new military command, Petraeus et al, the benefit of the doubt, let's consider all 400 to 1,000 foreigners in Iraq to be part of al Qaeda. Let's be very generous, eh? Let's give "Mister 26 Percent President" every advantage.
Mister Bush's latest 'surge' plan is into its fifth month. Again, giving the benefit of the doubt to the Republican President, let's only count four-months-worth of days. That'd be about 120 days. Everyday for those 120 days, the U.S. military command has claimed to have killed or captured between 10 and 30 members of so-called al Qaeda in Mesopotamia (it's okay, who wouldn't smile when saying that...'al Qaeda in Mesopotamia'; think the Bush boys didn't pay a Madison Avenue firm a lot of cash to conjure up that rubbish?). Again, giving the Loyal Bushies every possible advantage, let's say on average the US killed or captured only 10 "al Qaeda" people per-day. That means in the 120 days since the latest 'surge' started, they've captured or killed 1,200 members of "al Qaeda in Mesopotamia." snip
Something isn't quite right, is it?
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
