Iraq news that speaks for itself

[unhappycamper]

Iraq news that speaks for itself
Aug 16, 2007 04:30 AM
Haroon Siddiqui


Opinions, subjective though they are, ideally rest on facts, widely garnered and reasonably interpreted. Sometimes, facts alone are enough, obviating the need to pontificate. Such is the case with several recent small news items about Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

False intelligence: For about a year, American troops in Iraq had been looking for the leader of a shadowy insurgent group.

~snip~

Missing arsenal: A third of the weapons issued to Iraqi troops are unaccounted for, says the U.S. Accountability Office. Missing: 110,000 AK-47s, 80,000 pistols and 135,000 body armour items. Unless the stash is sitting somewhere unbeknownst to the Americans, the weapons were most likely sold on the black market or just passed along to the insurgents.

~snip~

Ayatollah power: Iran, neighbour to Iraq and Afghanistan, has been accused by Washington of arming the Taliban and the Iraqi Shiites with roadside bombs and other equipment. Skeptics include a growing number of Americans. They see it as George W. Bush's propaganda to deflect attention away from his two foreign crises or, more ominously, to build the case for attacking Iran.

~snip~

Civilian deaths: The U.S. Army/Marine Counterinsurgency Field Manual says: "An operation that kills five insurgents is counter-productive if the collateral damage leads to the recruitment of 50 more insurgents."


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