Why Bush’s troop surge won’t save Iraq
Salon
by Juan Cole
12/04/07
The current ‘good news’ campaign from the Bush administration regarding the troop surge is only the latest in a long history of whitewashing the war since the 2003 invasion. First, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld denied that there was massive looting following the fall of Baghdad. Then he denied that there was a rising guerrilla war. Then … the victory of Shiite fundamentalists close to Iran was obscured by the ‘purple thumb’ good news campaign. That is, the administration focused on the democratic process and relative success of the voting, diverting attention from the bad news that the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq had taken over. Later, it was good news when the Iraqi parliament produced a theocratic constitution …. The Bush administration has heralded any number of such ‘milestones’ reached, but not whether they led to worthwhile results. Obscured by these ‘milestones’ is that the orgy of violence in Iraq has displaced 2 million persons abroad and another 2 million internally, and left tens of thousands dead. But now the ‘good news’ is that the guerrillas appear not to have been able to keep up the pace of violence characteristic of 2006 and early 2007, even if the pace they maintain today is horrific...
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/12/04/iraq/
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
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New Reports Undercut Claims that Surge Is Working
New reporting from Baghdad and Washington has called into question the frequently asserted claim that the military surge in Iraq is working.
http://snipurl.com/1vsyp
From Information Clearing House
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=troop-surge
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Juan+Cole
by Juan Cole
12/04/07
The current ‘good news’ campaign from the Bush administration regarding the troop surge is only the latest in a long history of whitewashing the war since the 2003 invasion. First, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld denied that there was massive looting following the fall of Baghdad. Then he denied that there was a rising guerrilla war. Then … the victory of Shiite fundamentalists close to Iran was obscured by the ‘purple thumb’ good news campaign. That is, the administration focused on the democratic process and relative success of the voting, diverting attention from the bad news that the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq had taken over. Later, it was good news when the Iraqi parliament produced a theocratic constitution …. The Bush administration has heralded any number of such ‘milestones’ reached, but not whether they led to worthwhile results. Obscured by these ‘milestones’ is that the orgy of violence in Iraq has displaced 2 million persons abroad and another 2 million internally, and left tens of thousands dead. But now the ‘good news’ is that the guerrillas appear not to have been able to keep up the pace of violence characteristic of 2006 and early 2007, even if the pace they maintain today is horrific...
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/12/04/iraq/
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
--------
New Reports Undercut Claims that Surge Is Working
New reporting from Baghdad and Washington has called into question the frequently asserted claim that the military surge in Iraq is working.
http://snipurl.com/1vsyp
From Information Clearing House
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=troop-surge
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Juan+Cole
rudkla - 5. Dez, 17:07
