bunge
09-30-2004, 07:49 PM
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0930/dailyUpdate.html?s=ent
ttacks have risen to 70 a day, up from 40-50, since Iraqi Prime Minister Alawi took office in June.
The insurgency in Iraq appears to be more widespread and deadly than Iraqi leaders are prepared to admit, according to military officers and a report by a private security company, Special Operations Consulting-Security Management Group. The company says there have been 2,300 attacks in the past 30 days, stretching from Mosul in the north through the Sunni heartland west of Baghdad and central Shiite towns around Babylon down to Basra in the south. The weapons ranged from car and time bombs to rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, gunfire, mortars and landmines. They averaged 80 a day.
It's kind of scary that this whole aspect of the situation is being underplayed in the news. The impression coming across from the media and Bush is that there are occaisional big incidents (like when 30+ children were blown to bits today) but that things have been calming down.
Despite President Bush's rosy assessments, Iraq remains a disaster. If under Saddam it was a "potential" threat, under the Americans it has been transformed to "imminent and active threat," a foreign policy failure bound to haunt the United States for decades to come.
When do we start to admit that this situation is far worse than most of us imagined? How much worse does it need to get before people realize how bad things are?
The Christian Science Monitor reported Wednesday on life in Baghdad's "Green Zone" - home to US military and civilian officials and to the new US embassy (although its exact location has not been disclosed) - and finds that its residents are increasingly worried about their safety. One reason for their concern, the Monitor writes, is the approach of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on Oct. 15. Last year, the month saw a dramatic surge in attacks against the "US-led military occupation."
ttacks have risen to 70 a day, up from 40-50, since Iraqi Prime Minister Alawi took office in June.
The insurgency in Iraq appears to be more widespread and deadly than Iraqi leaders are prepared to admit, according to military officers and a report by a private security company, Special Operations Consulting-Security Management Group. The company says there have been 2,300 attacks in the past 30 days, stretching from Mosul in the north through the Sunni heartland west of Baghdad and central Shiite towns around Babylon down to Basra in the south. The weapons ranged from car and time bombs to rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, gunfire, mortars and landmines. They averaged 80 a day.
It's kind of scary that this whole aspect of the situation is being underplayed in the news. The impression coming across from the media and Bush is that there are occaisional big incidents (like when 30+ children were blown to bits today) but that things have been calming down.
Despite President Bush's rosy assessments, Iraq remains a disaster. If under Saddam it was a "potential" threat, under the Americans it has been transformed to "imminent and active threat," a foreign policy failure bound to haunt the United States for decades to come.
When do we start to admit that this situation is far worse than most of us imagined? How much worse does it need to get before people realize how bad things are?
The Christian Science Monitor reported Wednesday on life in Baghdad's "Green Zone" - home to US military and civilian officials and to the new US embassy (although its exact location has not been disclosed) - and finds that its residents are increasingly worried about their safety. One reason for their concern, the Monitor writes, is the approach of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on Oct. 15. Last year, the month saw a dramatic surge in attacks against the "US-led military occupation."