The Enemy Response
The enemy has struck back -- twice -- after nearly two weeks of being hit hard by Coalition forces.
Four US Soldiers Killed in Action in Ramadi, Western Iraq
The soldiers were killed yesterday by two separate homemade bombs that exploded while they were conducting combat operations in the city in Iraq's al-Anbar province, the military said in an e-mailed statement. The soldiers had been assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.
Suicide bomber kills four Americans
A suicide car bomber attacked a US diplomatic convoy in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing four Americans and wounding two others, a US official said.
But his resources are limited too. His command and operational span are demonstrably finite. Iraq violence wanes; bodies found
BAGHDAD (AP) — Insurgents assassinated a Kurdish member of parliament, and police said they found 20 bodies in the Tigris River north of the capital on Sunday. But there was no major violence in Baghdad for the first time in five days.
Meanwhile, the Coalition is head-hunting, pecking away at leadership targets.
Early Morning Raids Disrupt Terrorist Activities in Mosul
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces raided two terrorist safe houses in Mosul, killing two terrorists and detaining three others Sept. 19 at 1:51 a.m. The terrorists were suspected of having senior al-Qaeda in Iraq connections in Mosul and northern Iraq.
This follows a raid on September 5 against the same Al-Qaeda type of target. Shorn of all the Arabic names, the gist of the account is that a number of senior insurgents were captured in different locations in the Mosul area.
Multi-National forces capture key terror leaders in Mosul
Captured during the raid, which took place on Septmber 5, was Taha Ibrahim Yasin Becher, also known as Abu Fatima, the al-Qaida in Iraqs Emir of Mosul, and Hamed Sa'eed Ismael Mustafa, or Abu Shahed, the organizations West Mosul Emir, a multi-national force press release said today.
(Speculation alert) The enemy has probably set out to prove, in the light of the recent one-sided combat, that they can still cause US casualties. The enemy strikes do not appear to be "complex" operations which rely on the combined and coordinated application of different types of attack. In the case of the attack on the diplomatic convoy, the enemy expended a VBIED, which is pretty much their ultimate weapon, against a vehicle which did not contain any targets of a high propaganda value to them, although they must have believed the middle vehicle, which was attacked, may have contained a diplomat probably because of its location in the convoy. The deaths of these Americans are a tragedy. However, there is nothing yet in the operational pattern which suggests that the enemy is able to strike at other than targets of opportunity: they are killing whoever they can. This is pretty much consistent with the strategy of causing a political, rather than an overtly military impact on US forces.
The Coalition is pursuing a different strategy. Apart from combat operations against enemy fighters, it is attempting to roll-up the command infrastructure of the opposing force by capturing their key leaders. A "capture" is among the most complex operations of war. It is the very opposite of killing whoever you can. It means seizing specific persons ensconced deep within their most secure areas without giving them the time to resist or kill themselves, equivalent to the enemy seizing a full colonel and his staff inside brigade headquarters. (Another demonstration of a complex operation was provided by the British Army, which recovered two undercover men from a house after they had been moved there from a Basra jail.)
"Head hunting" does not of itself destroy the enemy force: that is something that must be accomplished separately. What headhunting does is reduce enemy cohesion and capability. From the scanty data available one might guess that, despite his recent losses, the enemy retains enough awareness to understand where and at what he must strike back at. He knows he must attack Americans to avoid seeming impotent and to make his mark on the Media. To the extent he retains the awareness to respond strategically, his command infrastructure is clearly intact. However, the relatively unsophisticated method of attack when compared to his previous efforts, when he would combine IEDs with mortar fire, snipers and the opportunistic selection of targets suggests that he is operationally hurt. Hurt, but not yet fatally hurt.
posted by wretchardthecat at 9/20/2005 06:51:00 AM
75 Comments:
The enemy in Iraq is morphing into a clone of Hamas.
Is there now any difference in the two?
enscout
Is there a difference between the 1st Cavalry Div. & the 82nd Airborne?
They are not one and the same, but both are parts of a greater whole.
The Mohmmedans are operating in a similar fashion.
While the MSM and US try to differentiate the Enemy they see themselves as part of a "Brotherhood". Operating under allah's watchful eye.
As W points out, the Insurgent cells in Iraq have a known mission. As the Command and Control over those cells break down, we can espect them continue on their percieved missions.
Much like the USMC's Strategic Corporal we can expect the Insurgents to continue THEIR missions regardless of the loss of their commanders.
Granted they will be less effective and less coordinated, but they may well "Press on" for an extended period.
At some point their Insurgency breaks down into common criminality and lawlessness.
An example from US history would be, I suppose, the James and Younger brothers in Missouri after US Civil War.
Guerillas that keep on keeping on.
The British are now having to deal with the problem the US faced in the north a year and a half ago: the infiltration of the police by a factional group. The key differences are that the central government, which is heavily Shi'ite has been silent or supportive of the Brits, and the enemy infiltration confined to the local cops. Those same cops recently killed blogger-journalist Steven Vincent and an NYT stringer, just now.
In the aftermath of the snatch, the Brits appear to have discouraged their men from shooting at the demonstrators who threw Molotov cocktails at a British Warrior APC. One British squaddie jumped burining from his vehicle without firing back. I think the Brits are calculating that the brouhaha will die down for want of political fuel because the Central Government doesn't support the Basra faction unambiguously.
Again the absolute centrality of building up a reliable Iraqi national army as a prerequisite for anything else has been demonstrated. This process begain in earnest after April, 2004 when the insurgency broke out nation-wide. It also helps that the Shi'ite-heavy Iraqi formations are up north fighting Zarqawi's men, in which they need no encouragement.
But basically the story, so far, has been British undercover troopers dressed as Arabs wasted some bad guys, went with the cops, who turned them over to the militia, got rescued by the British Army, and have been the subject of demonstrations, in which the troopers have been extra-nice.
W
Until the central Government can claim a monoploy of arms, in Iraq, the turmoil will continue.
Each cell, gang, militia or local police force thinking it is a power and force unto themselves.
Until this idea is defeated there will be continued instability and unrest.
desert rat,
The US and UK have to withdraw when things are "good enough", when a central government can hold its own against these divisive forces. The glue, in the form of an Iraqi national army must be created. This can be done. What isn't so easily achieved is establishing a legitimate government that can command this Iraqi national army. Without this legitimacy, the magnificent fighting machine the US will have built up will split up into factions and war against itself. But legitimacy in regional terms tranditionally meant a strongman. That's probably unacceptable because the US will be leaving a strongman in place of the one it came to depose.
So the US will aim for, and probably get, if it persists, some kind of Arabized consociational democracy in Iraq. Many of the things achieved so far are probably irreversible. The same factors which make it impossible for another Sunni strongman to arise will prevent the emergence of a Shi'ite dictator.
From the scanty data available one might guess that, despite his recent losses, the enemy retains enough awareness to understand where and at what he must strike back at. He knows he must attack Americans to avoid seeming impotent and to make his mark on the Media..
But, Wretchard, that seems to be what they are doing less and less. For example, the attacks on the pilgrims hurt the Americans how?
And I concur whole-heartedly with you here: Many of the things achieved so far are probably irreversible. The same factors which make it impossible for another Sunni strongman to arise will prevent the emergence of a Shi'ite dictator.
There is no way they're going back. But they still can't trust us to stay long enough to get the job done. Were I an Iraqi, I would feel contempt for a country so media-driven as ours.
Forgot to say -- Anybudee's scoring system is ingenious: An American is 3 points, a Kurdish diplomat is 2, and an Iraqi Shiite is a free throw -- does this last mean his life doesn't count in this war of attrition (if that's what it is?) or does it mean that he gets to try again with impunity.
How doe we keep a running score? Do we get to deduct the probable number of Iraqis who would now be dead were Saddam still in power?
Is this a game with a score limit, like ping-pong? I mean, is there some x number of American dead, or Shi'ite dead when they declare game over?
Wretchard, what's your take on the numbers?
W
I would assume that the million cars that have been imported to Iraq and the US subsidies of the gasoline to power them is the prime example of this "cultural" change, since Saddam.
After individuals are empowered by freedom, attempts to reverse course are met with ever greater resistance. Who, amongst us, will give up their car and the freedom it represents. I'm sure that the Iraqis feel the same way.
Anybudee,
"They progress as long as they keep scoring."
Yes and no. When we are consistently scoring at a greater rate than them, they fall further and further behind, even if their total is increasing. And that is what has been happening, at an increasing rate, for some time now.
Another point about the IDF is that it is totally a 'Light lnfantry' Army. There is no heavy armor or air power in the force.
I had previously thought this an error in design, but a W so aptly put it, in case of US Policy failure we will not have given any particular faction an overpowering military superiority.
It also maintains an Iraqi dependency on US assistance for the foreseeable future. As well as maintaining OUR monopoly of superior force in the country, even as we draw down, next year.
exhelo
That would be true if the Mohammedan objective, in Iraq, is some type of military defeat of US. That does not seem to be the case, in this Phase of their plan.
As the aQ operative was quoted in the WaPo, yesterday, the Mahdi Army has shown US to not be omnipotent. That was and continues to be their objective. As long as the War continues, they are winning, the US being unable to defeat them.
Iraq, for aQ, is a propaganda war, and they are churning it out. Our defeat of trainees and the elimination of Mohammedan Cadres, in Iraq, does not set the Jihadists back in Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Phillipines, Thailand, or any of the other battlefronts of the War. Their's is a decentralized conflict, as well as Command structure.
d santo
The Arabic and Mohammedan press, worldwide, reports these events in an even more biased way. It is not "just" our MSM. They do, at least, print facts. They just spin the conclusions drawn from the facts.
The World media does not even report the facts.
They report the US is losing and that perception becomes the reality for millions of misinformed, world wide.
It is a front, mass communication, the West invented and has had "turned" on US.
The Terrorists do not have to beat US to win, and even in military defeat they will find a political propaganda victory.
Arafat never, I believe, won a military engagement against a nation state.
D santo
Totally correct, but Arafat and his minions did quite well, for themselves.
If the prosperity and well being of the "folk" is of no concern to the 'leaders' than your matrix of success does not apply.
The Mohammedans are in the fight, to fight. allah will supply Victories as needed or required.
The well being of the Iraq people was never a concern to Saddam, nor is it to the Insurgents.
By applying our matrix to their War we will continue to find Victory elusive
anybudee
The Prof agrees with Bush.
The battle is about Personal Freedom vs. Submission.
We, in the US have the most RADICAL form of Government in the World.
As we export OUR revolution of liberty and personal responsibility the Reactionaries will, inevitably, step up to stop US.
Wretchard,
My knowledge of explosives is somewhat limited.
I wonder what you think of the composition of this VBIED, the 55 gallon drum of fuel seems somewhat amaturish.
From a 42id press release -
ABU DALEF, Iraq – Soldiers ...discovered a ..(VBIED) here September 17. .... The VBIED consisted of two 152mm, four 125mm, one 57mm, one rocket motor and a 55 gallon drum of fuel and was destroyed by Coalition Forces.
http://www.42id.army.mil/drumbeat/TF%20Liberty%20News%20Briefs%2019%20Sep.doc
students dad
As an ex-Army demo man, in my misspent youth, you are describing a potent mix.
If the Fuel has been "jellied", by adding a thickening agent (soap flakes), you then have a napalm type mixture. When properly configured the drum acts like a "Barrel" and the 'FUGAS' can be "Aimed".
We used det cord, C4 and small cratering (ammonia nitrate) charges when setting this type of munitions. We were trained to employ this in defensive positions, against massed infantry assaults.
They also could have been attempting a fuel-air device, which vaporizes the fuel and then ignites it.
I have read about such munitions and saw a video of a detonation, but it seemed quite complex, beyond an easy, field expedient, method of application
Bush promotes "Liberty, Freedom, Democracy". It is the essences of the Bush Doctrine.
We appauld and assist the Democracies as they form.
The Evil Doers hate US for our Western & Modern Freedoms, I'm sure you have heard Bush sat that.
The fledgling Republics are the essence of either "Western" or "Modern"
The Terrorists, whether Mohammedan or Communist, oppose those Freedoms, where ever they bloom.
That's how I read the Profs piece.
The IA will have a few heavy Tanks.
Arming the New Iraqi Army
"By August 2005 Iraq's first armored brigade was trained and in the field, with 77 Soviet-designed T-72 tanks donated to Iraq by Hungary expected to arrive in Iraq soon. Defense Solutions announced 27 July 2005 that it would deliver the first five rebuilt T-72 Main Battle Tanks to the Iraqi Army. Iraqi Staff Major General Mahmood Ayoub Bashar accepted these tanks on behalf of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense during his attendance at program review meetings held at the HM Currus Combat Vehicle Technique Company (Currus), Gödöllõ, Hungary"
On another note, I think that the various terror groups across the globe will continue to fight when, where and who they think (at the moment) will work in their favor.
They are growing and bending young minds all over the globe each and every day, so as to have an unending supply of Islamic Warriors.
The last great series of battles lasted (I think) five hundred years, years of trying to hold off the hoards of Islamic Warriors.
Suceeding in having a short respite which has now ended. Will we be able to defeat them again? Will it take another five hundred years?
Only one knows, no matter by what name you call him.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
Taken from the VFW Magazine, August 05 issue:
Battle of Iwo Jima
2/19/45 -3/26/45 (35 days)
5,391 Marines KIA
17,372 WIA
982 Navy KIA
Amidst many, many patrols and several operations, 8 of our men have been killed in Iraq.
1/3 - 1/13/45 (10 days)
Philippines
53 U.S. ships are struck by kamikazes
Talk about homicide bombers, eh? What if there was a war on terrorism and nobody was willing to die?
That Chavez would ally with Osama is not at all far fetched. In fact there are reports out of the tri border region of South America that it is already under way.
Wretchard posted on the subject just a little while ago.
It is one of the reasons Rumsfeld has been to the Region 3 or 4 times in the past year.
papa ray
great news
the IDF will have 80 or so Soviet era tanks to reenforce their Infantry. They should be getting there, what, just prior to, or just after the Elections in December?
Perfect timing.
Desert_rat,
I suspect that the absence of air and armor is not intended to be permanent, but there is a huge increase in the training and logistics requirements for those two areas; it would be a mistake to try and do everything all at once.
Desert Rat,
"That would be true if the Mohammedan objective, in Iraq, is some type of military defeat of US"
We are winning both militarily and politically in Iraq. And if we were to "cut and run" right now (for domestic political purposes), the Islamic terrorists would be in worse shape than if we were to stay, because the Kurds and Shiites would not hold back. So they are losing either way.
exhelo
I understand the difficulties.
In the late '70's, early 80's the average recruit in the US Army enlisted for three years. KATUSA soldiers, embedded with US Troops went from Private to Sergeant in three years.
A US Stryker Brigade takes four years for US to form from scratch, or so I think I've read. Seems slow to me, but...
We have been in charge of the Iraqi Army training program for over two and a half years. If we do not count the training time authorized and funded by Congress for Iraqi exiles, but not implemented by Dept of State prior to the Invasion.
Safe to say that we have had plenty of time to train and equip what ever type of force we wanted the Nationalists to have.
There are any number of methods that could have been employed to speed up getting the Iraqis on line.
The enemy command and control structure is being pared down while the reduced gene pool of the insurgency is left in the detritus of their own wrecked ambitions. The piranha will seek to draw blood from MNF when they can but the swamp will be drained for ever further.
The cause of civilization will be served when the capability for violence is mostly in the hands of authority. The national capability must hold dominion over regional militias and the regional militias must live in a brokered peace with local law enforcement. The tip of the spear will be wielded by men who know their neighbors, and neighbors who know that retribution for unsanctioned criminal activities will be swift and unfailingly brutal. Because, in the end, it is men with guns who uphold the law.
I do not hear "responsible" opponents of the Iraq campaign calling for US to "cut and run".
What we will see is calls for phased withdrawal, after the Elections.
When Biden, Clinton and Kerry agree that we have fulfilled the Use of Force Goals. They will claim "success" for 'their' US policy. The "moderate" position.
It begins to happen in December. Bush will declare Victory for his Policies, the successful elections proving his wisdom.
Finances WILL begin to play a role in the continued GWoT. The costs of continued massive deployments of ground troops to high for a Katrina recovery effort to coexist with.
The Tarot cards are on the table, now all we have to do is 'read' them.
We will withdraw our main Combat Component from Iraq. The War on Terror will be left to proxies, in Iraq. As it should be.
On to Osama
Wretchard,
NPR had an Anti-war Full Court Press on their Morning Edition show today that sounded like a custom response to your recent arguments of success against the insurgency. Here are some excepts to relay the flavor of the piece by Eric Westervelt.
Innskeep's leadin:
"Though U.S. and Iraqi forces have claimed victory against insurgents in one part of Iraq, the urban attacks continue: at least 200 Iraqis have been killed by suicide attacks in Baghdad in recent days."
Westervelt:
"Suicide attacks in Baghdad have killed 200 Iraqis in Baghdad in recent days. These attacks come after US and Iraqi forces launched a major counter-insurgency attack in western Iraq. The US and its allies had said that they had found a successful model for future sweeps. But the urban attacks by the insurgents help to explain why some experts say the US is winning hollow victories in the west. ... The US and Iraqis called the Tal-Afar sweeps a success. but almost as quickly The streets were again filled with chaos. The Tal-Afar sweep was followed quickly by a series of carefully coordinated car bombings in Baghdad. Once again raising questions about the effectiveness of US and Iraqi security efforts.... Al Qaeda in Iraq, a small but potent foreign fighter slice of the Sunni-led insurgency claimed responsibility... declared all-out sectarian war on Shia's whom they view as traitors...US and Iraqi forces continue to carry out (what the expert) calls empty tactical victories.. operations which win the immediate fight but fail to fail to secure broader stability or popular support.."
I suppose that the bottom line is that the Insurgents don't really need any kind of complex, skillfull or hardly even coordinated attack to get their propaganda prominently presented in the Western media. Any kind of half-assed car bombings will constitute a sufficient excuse for the illiberal western media to portray them as heroic rebels fighting against the Evil American Empire. Oh yes and don't miss the author who will be on Fresh Air this afternoon. He will be discussing his book about the brave Sunnis who take up a simple AK-47 and fight against the heavily armed Americans.
Thanks Stoutfellow,
That was perfectly nauseating. So then, 200 Iraqi civilians versus 200 aQ collaborators? The numbers don’t play well even for the average Sunni. NPR might stand for Not Particularly Reliable news.
stoutfellow
exactly the point, well said
"..the brave Sunnis who take up a simple AK-47 and fight against the heavily armed Americans ..."
Galloway, Moore, and how many others, unnamed across the Mohammedan and World stage take this position?
Even if we defeat the Iraqi Insurgents, both militarily and politically their cause will live and prosper across the different fronts of the war.
Che' lives, even while buried in Bolivian dirt. More a threat as a martyred legend then he ever was alive.
Stephen Ambrose, in "Citizen Soldiers" describes a typical scene in Germany near the end of WWII. A convoy of US Army trucks would be proceeding down some road and would receive a few rounds of sniper fire. The trucks wiould stop and a thousand Garand rifles would fire back in reply. Then from out of the bushes or from atop the hill, a couple of bedraggled Hitler Youth or weary members of the Whermacht would come out, holding their rifles over their head. The Americans would then drive off, leaving the Germans by the side of the road without even disarming them. They had no need to take the Germans' guns; the point had been made.
At the end of WWII both the Germans and the Japanese knew without a shadow of a doubt that they had been beaten by a superior force created by a superior civilization.
Will we ever get to that point in Iraq? Or are the people we are fighting too dumb to realize how dumb they are?
Will they ever say "Well, we fought pretty well but .... Boy! We got beat but good." and then go about building a civilization that emulates in its own way that of their betters?
Or will they lie to each other of vast conspiracies and missed opportunities and instead emulate the Western Left - and thus build nothing but more despair?
In 2.5 years there is no way that, with the entire military starting completely from scratch, they could build up more than a very small, ineffective aviation arm. Which would be a big waste the Iraqi resources. Much better to wait until they have taken over the majority of the military duties, with the basic overall military structure in place, before adding in something that complex.
Wretchard, I hope you will post on the Basra incident (with the 2 British spies/soldiers). It sounds fascinating, from what little I've read.
Exhelo
As to a complete air wing, I'm sure you are correct. I'm not sure what type of Air they'd really need. Rotary wing I'd suspect, both for transport and ground support.
If we thought it prudent, with personnel integration and embedding we could have given them an Air Mobile capacity, 50 - 100 utility choppers. We chose not to. Not necessarily an inprudent or bad decision.
sirius sir
It sometimes does the same to me, or puts the link in a line under the time of posting.
I had thought it a case of operator head spacing, but if the same malfunction occured to you, well, I'll have to change my vote tor Blogger breakdown
As to resources, we are spending $500,000,000.00 per day.
Resources are not the challenge.
Now Basra-wood ?
http://www.hardattacknews.com/
"At some point their Insurgency breaks down into common criminality and lawlessness.
An example from US history would be, I suppose, the James and Younger brothers in Missouri after US Civil War."
There were a number of very nasty local feuds that were settled in that period, all under the guise of the Civil War. Bloody Kansas was by far the worse.
And the Jim Crow laws and lynchings that followed can be seen as more the same.
We pulled out of the South too early.
I am surprised no one has used this parallel.
C4
I agree that financial resources WILL become a challenge.
We have seen NO Fiscal restraint from the Congress or President. Exploding spending, even with the increased revenues produced by economic expansion, will move US into an inflationary cycle.
I'd hate to relive the 'stagflation years" that Mr. Carter brought US.
Just one amongst many cascading reasons for US to "Scale Back" in Iraq.
I'm sure we will have a new venacular for withdrawal.
The Status of Forces agreement with Iraq, now that could be an interesting debate in the Senate.
Cederford:
Start with cutting domestic welfare entitlements and foreign aid to specific governments.
MEDVED CURRENTLY HOSTING MR GALLOWAY!
Remember him describing Saddam as a good Buddy?
He doesn't!
Israeli Website Propaganda!
Medved can be heard on KRLA.com
enscout
Federal spending for Katrina will be a GIANT Welfare Program.
All current Federal Spending is imperative. There is NO WASTE, FRAUD or ABUSE left in the Federal System.
When a Republican in the House moved for a 2.5% rollback, across the board, in appropriations, that is what he was told. I read the story yesterday or the day before. I'll look for the link.
From the WSJ.com concerning US Federal spending
"...Congressman Todd Aiken of Missouri complains that Congress was forced to vote on the $62 billion first installment of funds "even though we knew a lot of the money may go to waste." Mr. Aiken and several dozen other House conservatives proposed an amendment to the $62 billion hurricane relief bill that would offset at least some of the emergency spending by cutting other government programs a meager 2.5 cents out of every dollar that federal agencies spend.
Was the amendment defeated? No. The Republican leadership would not even allow it to come to a vote, on the grounds that there was no waste which could be easily identified and cut.
Dozens of other reasonable proposals to offset Katrina's tidal wave of deficit spending have been similarly repelled. Mike Pence of Indiana suggested a one-year delay on the multitrillion dollar new prescription drug benefit for senior citizens. For 220 years, seniors have managed without this give-away; one more year of waiting would hardly be an act of cruelty. It would save $40 billion, but there were no takers. Then there was the well-publicized idea by Republicans and several Democrats in Congress to cut $25 billion for bike paths, train-station renovations, nature trails, parking garages, auto museums and 6,000 other such pork projects in the just-enacted highway law. It was torpedoed by the powerful committee chairmen who patched this abominable bill together in the first place. ..."
GOP's New New Deal
Big government Republicans, not my cup of tea, either
Prior to Saddams fall there where 840 main battle tanks in the Iraqi Army. Now there will be 87 delivered from Hungary and the 5 in use for training.
The US Army Table of Orginization and Equipment places 12 tanks in a Company.
The Iraqis will be able to field 7 tank companies at a maximum. More than enough for internal security, but not large enough to be a Regional threat, except, perhaps to Syria.
Lt. Gen. Russel Honore should be nation's top official in charge of communications/press relations:
He knows his mission:
"Keep them from getting
Stuck on Stupid."
If you want to find out Google's persuasion type 'miserable failure' and hit 'i'm feeling lucky'.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice With Time Magazine Editorial Board :
QUESTION: I know people close to the President always find it confounding that he doesn't get better marks from African Americans. Can you give us some personal insight into why that is and if you ever talk to him about this problem?
SECRETARY RICE: I can't figure out why it is. I'm also confounded as well. I have found any argument that it might somehow have been racially motivated that people got slow help just ludicrous. And frankly, I think that people were allowed to say that without those assumptions being examined is really too bad because it's poisonous.
QUESTION: Thank you. One follow-up. You've known the President for a very long time. Do you discuss this with him?
SECRETARY RICE: Sure. Of course. I think asking the question for people who have been left behind, "How do you key them to be able to break out of that and to take advantage of opportunity," is really the question we ought to be asking. And I guess it exposes my own prejudice on this, but I think I'd focus an awful lot on the educational side.
QUESTION: I'd like to follow up on this particular area because the poverty rate has gone up each year the last five years, and this is during the time of your Administration, yours and the President's Administration. And so has some thought been given to the fact that the brand, the kind of compassionate conservatism that you're practicing is not working?
SECRETARY RICE: Well, I think that whenever you look for causal effects, you have to look outside of a five-year impact. I can be quite certain that anything that happened in the last two or three years doesn't actually have its root causes in the last five or six.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0509/S00383.htm
Wretchard says: "So the US will aim for, and probably get, if it persists, some kind of Arabized consociational democracy in Iraq."
Which is another way of saying, "...some kind of Arabized consociational democracy similar to that now practiced around the world by the Followers of the Glory."
It seems foreign to Americans, but with an elected council of 9 men and women; elected by prayerful, NON-nominated, secret ballots; charged with a sacred duty to serve their communities best interests while protecting the rights of minorities...
...we may see something like this in Iraq, soon!
Lead Dog 2 says: "They are smart enough NOT to join in the call to kill 60% or more of the country. That is at least a start. Granted, a small one, but a start!"
Its been my experience that when deeply-held convictions start unraveling, especially in a large community of people, its quite easy for them to continue questioning other, equally invalid-but-deeply-held convictions.
Cf. when people begin to accept blacks as humans, as US. Or any other acceptance of a local "them" who now becomes "us"...
Carridine, see my 4:13 PM post for some Incandescent Insight from an "Academic ."
Perhaps a large community in our nation is going backwards?
U.S. Military Deaths Top 1,900 in Iraq:
On Aug. 2, New York freelance journalist Steven Vincent and his female Iraqi translator were abducted at gunpoint. His body was discovered that night south of Basra. The translator was seriously wounded and remains hospitalized.
Vincent was killed shortly after he wrote a column published in the Times claiming Basra police were of being infiltrated by Shiite militiamen. A senior British official said Islamic militants and not Iraqi police probably killed him.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=nation_world&id=3461255
Doug, IF human spirit manifests, "shows up" anywhere, it shows up in human speech and crystallized speech we call writing, both of which are evidence of thinking, hence human spirit.
I followed your links, and I concur that today's extremists and bigots are spiritually diseased.
When we accept that thought-speech-writing is the primary realm of human spirit, then we can see what 'spirituality' means, and it is 'thoughts, speech and writings which lead to or influence human ACTIONS in a manner enhancing knowledge and love; supporting an ever-advancing civilization.'
We cannot apply political solutions, legal solutions or martial solutions to spiritual problems. We may THINK they're propaganda problems, or ideological problems, but ultimately the problems of humanity reside in the human spirit: lack of human values shows up as Zarqawi-like inhumanity, and expressions of human value guide the leaders of humankind today, though these leaders are NOT political names or religious faces.
The true leaders amongst humankind are those who, armed with word-tools supplied by the All-Wise, share with their fellow humans in demonstrably productive, compassionate, positive and courageous ways; on a frequent and continuous basis; around the world daily; asking no recompense or recognition!
Does Israel have any fuel air bombs? Just curious.
sam
I see marcus beat me to it, but take a look here anyway.
"Google says it won't manually manipulate its search results, even when pranksters push unwarranted links to the top of the results list with so-called "googlebombing" tactics.
In this case, a number of webmasters use the phrases [failure] and [miserable failure] to describe and link to President Bush's website, thus pushing it to the top of searches for those phrases. We don't condone the practice of googlebombing, or any other action that seeks to affect the integrity of our search results, but we're also reluctant to alter our results by hand in order to prevent such items from showing up."
Doug
Here's an alternative media site for you, courtesy of some enterprising folks up in British Columbia Canada. Do you think they new anything about the Millenium Bomber?
We might not be out as quickly as you think. The Iraqis seem to have other priorities for US money then self defense.
Iraqi defense officials have embezzled $1.27 billion
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
BAGHDAD — Iraq has depleted its defense procurement budget due to widespread corruption, torpedoing plans to end the military's dependence on the United States.
An official Iraqi audit said $1.27 billion allocated by the Defense Ministry for military procurement in 2005 was embezzled by officials and suppliers. In a report completed in May, the Board of Supreme Audit blamed the theft on U.S.-appointed senior Defense Ministry officials, including a former defense minister.
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Right move: Home Loans With Options
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The board examined 89 government contracts signed from June 2004 through February 2005, Middle East Newsline reported.
"Huge amounts of money have disappeared," Iraqi Finance Minister Ali Allawi said. "In return we got nothing but scraps of metal. It is possibly one of the largest thefts in history."
"There have been many violations of the bidding process that have led to huge losses of public funds," Hadi Al Amiri, chairman of parliament's Integrity Committee, said. "Many bids were improperly conducted and awarded by ministers without any input from committees established to assess the bids."
Citing the audit, Al Amiri told parliament on Sept. 18 that incompetent officials were given responsibility for supervising defense projects and procuring weapons and other equipment. He said that despite the audit little has changed in the procurement process.
"Our funds are under the control of ignorant people," Al Amiri said.
The Defense Ministry used foreign intermediaries, including U.S. representatives, to conclude fictitious deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the audit said. Parliamentarians who received the report said the defense contracts were drafted by the suppliers themselves without any government supervision.
. Officials and parliamentarians said nine Defense Ministry officials were dismissed since the audit was submitted in May. In addition, an arrest warrant was issued for Defense Ministry procurement director Ziad Cattan.
The audit said the Defense Ministry spent hundreds of millions of dollars in government funds on obsolete platforms and equipment from such countries as Egypt, Pakistan and Poland. They said one of the worst examples of graft was the $230 million spent in Poland on Soviet-origin M-8 and Mi-17 helicopters manufactured in the mid-1970s and later deemed as incapable of combat missions.
Officials said Defense Minister Saadoun Dulaimi has refused to accept the delivery of the aging platforms from Poland. They added that the loss of the ministry's $1.3 billion procurement budget would harm efforts to build an indigenous Iraqi military and security capability in 2006.
"If we really spent that money in the right way, maybe it would have given us more capabilities to face terrorists," Dulaimi said.
About $500 million of the embezzled funds were spent through three front companies that received kickbacks, the report said. The audit said Cattan, who also holds Polish nationality, agreed to pay for most of the arms purchases in cash.
The audit said most of the embezzlement took place during the tenure of then-Defense Minister Hazim Shaalan. Shaalan has since moved to Jordan and denied the charges. But officials said Shaalan would soon be served with an arrest warrant.
The board also cited the procurement of combat armored vehicles that could not stop bullets fired from AK-47 assault rifles. Other vehicles purchased from Egypt were said to have leaked oil.
The report also accused Defense Ministry officials of accepting cheap copies of weapons rather than the modern equipment ordered. They included the switching of U.S.-origin MP5 machine guns for copies made in Egypt.
"If you compare the amount that was allegedly stolen of about $1 billion compared with the budget of the ministry of defense, it is nearly 100 percent of the ministry's [procurement] budget that has gone [missing]," Allawi said told the London-based Independent on Monday.
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BorderGal,
You underline the message in my earlier post: Spiritual problems need spiritual solutions!
Racial equality, the oneness of humankind, justice, personal accountability, honesty, forthrightness, the equality of men and women, protection of minorities...
These are ALL characteristic study/practice choices of the Community of the Greatest Name.
These are more than lip-service, and these affect the world in a positive way. Iraqis, however, are being systematically DENIED access to the Glory of God! (As are Iranians.)
Those pesky Iraqis, those nastys appointed by US, to administrate their Defense Department, why they stole three days worth of the Occupations cash flow.
Who'd have ever guessed there would be corrupt Iraqis.
And it was not even Mr. Chalabi
Well then, it's confirmed, defeat is in the air.
Marcus, Stoutfellow,
Thanks for the Google info.
Velvet Revolutions and the Logic of Terrorism:
The suicide bomb, with the mass terrorism it epitomizes, is the weapon of choice against the velvet revolution. The target is not, as well-meaning critics of terrorism say, indiscriminate: it is exact and precise. The target is any population that might organize a velvet revolution, the potential sovereigns of a democratic state. It is people who are not ideological, who are willing to let others believe what they want, who want to make a living and be independent, and who want a say in their government. Even in Israel, where it was the citizens of an already-established democratic state that were being attacked, the true target, as we are now coming to understand after the death of Arafat, was the nascent democracy of Palestine. By killing Jews, Arafat could continue to oppress and defraud Palestinians.
Global terrorism is not a revolution, but an attempt to suppress a revolution. What is being defended by suicide terror is not Islam, not traditional moral culture, not the ethnic nation yearning to be free of the colonial oppressor, but the principle of totalitarian rule -- the sovereignty of the dictator or the ayatollah, promoted as national self-identity and independence, or as the will of God. It is the last gasp, historically, of the ancient system by which the huge majority of human beings were ruled since the Neolithic agricultural revolution.
http://www.techcentralstation.com/092005B.html
sam
anybudee and I have discussed that article earlier today.
We both found it informative, but disagreed, I think, on what the Professor meant.
I think the premise is an extension of Bush Doctrine thinking, anybudee didn't see it that way.
How about you?
Sam,
Concur yr analysis!
Iranians are SO frightened by the revolutionary aspects of the Baha'i Faith, they HANG 14-year old girls for the crime of holding childrens' classes!
(Google "Mona With the Children")
The revolution is coming anyway, and their oppressive, murderous ways are being rolled up by God!
Stoutfellow's Link:
"Fighting continues in Tall Afar"
"As to the number of Americans and Iraqi puppet army troops killed in the fighting, Abu Hatim declared
“we killed 35 American soldiers just by picking them off with sniper fire, that’s to say nothing of how many we killed with our rockets and grenades, and the bombs that we planted on every street of the city."
---
CBS Should hire those guys.
I have a post up on the Missing Iraqi Defense Funds, but there's a problem with blogger right now. Hope blogger can publish a little later.
Agree that the Basra / Brit raid is definitely out of the ordinary and should be parsed a little deeper. For one thing, what about the Iranians -- are they part of what went on?
Moqtada Sadr's thugs evidently wanted the Brits to exchange for some of their arrested comrades. The Brits were extricated from a private house -- in other words, the Basra "police" had handed them over to Sadr's people.
The "government" couldn't convince the Basra police to cooperate -- what the *hell* is going on there? And the locals are complaining that the British were mean to them because all the locals had to shoot back with were rifles. Oh, and it's also an insult to Islam and the Muslims were humiliated.
There's some fairly sophisticated spin going on which may be being directed from elsewhere -- or it may just be Arab victimhood whining forth once again. I'd love to know who the Brits were after in the first place, and who made the decision to do a John Wayne into the jail -- if that was a Brit-only decision or if the Coalition as a whole said, "go for it, mate -- we're with you". Can anyone say, "shock and awe, redux"?
Speaking of targeting Al-Queda's command structure, see following. I always did wonder who stitched up Zaqarwi several months ago when he was reported as being perforated:
Doctors held for aiding militants
AP
Baghdad:
The US military has arrested two men it claimed were doctors aiding insurgents, blocking militant plans to set up a medical clinic for their fighters.
Military officials said seven other suspected insurgents were captured around Baghdad.
The two alleged doctors were captured in insurgent hideouts in Baghdad and Baqouba areas. They were identified as Anees Abdul Razaq Mohammad and Mazen Mahdi Khudayr.
The statement said Mohammad, also known as Dr. Anees or Dr. Sa'ad, was a senior Baghdad member of Al Qaida in Iraq and holds a degree in pharmacology.
Khudayr, who uses the aliases Dr. Layth or Dr. Mazen, was "an admitted senior terrorist, weapons dealer and medical doctor who worked for" Al Qaida military leadership in Baghdad, the statement said.
The two men, working with other Al Qaida leaders, "were in the process of selecting a suitable location [for a clinic] and obtaining additional assistance when they were captured."
Rat,
Sorry, must have missed Anybudee and your discussion on the Velvet Revolution earlier.
I absolutely agree it is an extension of Bush Doctrine. Bush Doctrine says, amongst many other things:
1. Champion aspirations for human digninty.
2. Strengthen alliances to defeat global terrorism.
The Velvet Revolution article states that the real target of the suicide bomb is potential sovereigns of a democratic state.
The target is people who are not ideological.
If you look at the Doctrine and the Velvet Revolution article there are many parallels.
Carridine,
Thanks for the tip on Mona. I read a bit about it. Sad.
c4: Hamas has the widespread popular support of Palestinians in it's partisan fight against the Israeli occupier.
Hamas has the widespread popular support of the palestinians in it's murder of every jewish man, woman and baby in it's fight against the the state of israel.
How can you call Israel "occupier" when according to YOU they share the same dna gnome as the palestinians? Hebron, Jerusalem Bethlehem, Nazerith all jewish cities now occupied by arabs and are Judenfree, are only JEWS? occupiers? Hamas alos has no problems murdering arabs living in that state of israel too..
personally i think palestinians deserve hamas...
Hamas has begun operating a "vice and virtue commando" in the Gaza Strip to safeguard Islamic values, Palestinian security officials and residents told The Jerusalem Post.
The new force, called the Anti-Corruption Unit, is believed to be behind the gruesome murder over the weekend of Yusra al-Azzami, a 22-year-old university student from the northern Gaza Strip.
Her "crime" was that she was seen in public with her fiance.
Although "honor killings" are not a new phenomenon in Palestinian society, the perpetrators were almost always relatives of the victims. But this is the first time that one of the Palestinian groups has openly acted against a woman suspected of "immoral behavior."
Hamas's "morality" patrolmen first spotted the young couple strolling along the beach in Gaza City, together with Azzami's younger sister. After enjoying the spectacular sunset over the sea, they got into the future husband's car and started driving towards Azzami's home.
According to eyewitness accounts, five masked gunmen who were in another car gave chase, opening fire at Azzami, who was sitting in the front seat next to her fiance. She died instantly.
The fiance and sister were later brutally beaten and moderately injured by the attackers.
The incident took place at a busy intersection in Gaza City.
What happened immediately afterwards left many passersby traumatized.
The assailants dragged the young woman's body out of the car, pouncing upon it mercilessly with clubs and iron bars.
"It was the most horrific crime I've seen in my life," said a university student who witnessed the attack. "What they did to the body while it was lying on the ground was barbaric. This does not represent Islam." The student, who asked not to be named, said he and several other people at the scene were too afraid to interfere. "We waited until the gunmen left the area before we called the police and an ambulance," he added.
yes... hamas the boy scouts of the middle east...
to c4, just like the french "partisans"
h aha ah ah aha ah haha aha ha h
Pork,
Isn't that approved Jewish treatment of the dead?
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Always good to have popular support against the occupiers.
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to c4, just like the french "Parisians"
NahnCee,
So the occupiers destroyed all hope of ever opening
Dr. FeelBad's
Emergency Clinic and Jihadi Rehab Center?
VBIED: Iraq Insurgents' Weapon of Choice
author: reAPost
U.S. soldiers inside Humvees scan for telltale signs of their now longtime foe, the roadside bomb [IED], and of a newer, often more lethal and far more difficult to detect weapon - the car bomb.
Countrywide, and especially in Baghdad, the U.S. military says the VBIED - for "vehicle-borne improvised explosive device" - has become the insurgents' weapon of choice, mostly wielded against Iraqi security personnel and American troops but often soaking the blast area with the blood of bystanders.
Car bombs offer the insurgents a range of advantages.
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Some checkpoints have X-ray machines to scan vehicles and a video-equipped robot can be called up to peer into a suspicious car. But out on the road, the best defense against VBIEDs is largely experience, eyesight and instinct, he said.
The patrols are on the lookout for certain aging car models, vehicles with low riding back ends, cars that try to get close to vehicles as they pass a military convoy or just a driver's darting, shifty look.
"Often it's one soldier's decision - a 19-year-old sitting behind a .50-caliber machine gun in a Humvee in 110-degree weather making a decision in five seconds," said Talarico, the engineer captain.
In one incident, he recalled, a remotely detonated car bomb went off at a traffic circle near Baqouba two months ago. As U.S. troops moved in to cordon the area, a young soldier spotted a nervous-looking driver trying to get a stalled, decrepit car moving. Within moments the soldier fired, turning the car and suicide bomber into a cauldron of flames and flying metal.
"The insurgents are always looking for new avenues of attack," Talarico says, then adds an ominous note: "What we have to find out is what comes after the VBIEDs."
. Portland Indymedia
Stout and other posters have already covered the huge anti-Coalition media push so I will just say many Americans can see through media bias and know there are plenty of latter day Walter Durantys who would gladly sellout to the enemy. The press is stuck on stupid (or more to the point, stuck on premeditated stupid).
Following this, I notice AP stringer Khalid Mohammed just happens to have his camera trained on explosive device as it explodes near US convoy of trucks. I guess it was just coincidence he had his camera pointed at that particular area.
see: photo by Khalid Mohammed, AP
NahanCee makes a good catch on the story of doctors Anees Abdul Razaq Mohammad and Mazen Mahdi Khudayr who were aiding the enemy. These two should be thoroughly interrogated and harshly punished.
As to the two British ops guys held by either the Basra cops or by terrorists, I am sure the Brits had every right to free them. And, I am sure these British ops guys had and important mission to carryout (it seems the Basra police have a large criminal element embedded). But, we will just have to wait until more facts come out.
I have to admit I like the Brits innovative yet simple disguise. I bet that it could be used successfully in other places like the Syrian boarder.
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