Deadly Peace : Iraqi Style
Since the official end of the war in Iraq, the number of attacks on American troops has been steadily increasing.
To date, 56 US soldiers have been killed since the end of official hostilities. ( 138 in total since the first days of the war )
In the last two weeks alone there have been 131 clashes between Iraqi irregulars and US soldiers.
41 have been attacks on US military compounds,
26 on US observation outposts,
26 on US troop materiale convoys.
38 intitiated by US forces in pre-emptive or retaliatory response.
Major General William Webster has noted that the Baathists are still a powerful force in various parts of Iraq, and that they are re-organising resistance to the american ground forces.
He further noted that the Baathists, are enlisting help from foreign fighters, including elements from Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Saudia Arabia, Algeria, & even Chechnya.
With some political & military strategists arguing for an American / coalition presence in Iraq till at least 2007 ( five years ), it seems that the price for keeping the peace is going to be very high in American blood.
( This scenario is to a lesser extent also being played out in Afghanistan with American & coalition forces being subjected to increasing harrasment by the Taliban ).
With all the accusations and counter accusations flying around, as to legality or otherwise of this war in the first place; are we in danger of seeing America becoming embroiled in yet another Vietnam style conflict.
Will Iraq, & Afghanistan prove to be the turning points towards real Democracy in the Islamic world, or will America and her allies be forced to prop up unpopular pro- western governments & administrations in the face of growing local hostility.
Or will pressure on the American political homefront force a total withdrawl ?
To date, 56 US soldiers have been killed since the end of official hostilities. ( 138 in total since the first days of the war )
In the last two weeks alone there have been 131 clashes between Iraqi irregulars and US soldiers.
41 have been attacks on US military compounds,
26 on US observation outposts,
26 on US troop materiale convoys.
38 intitiated by US forces in pre-emptive or retaliatory response.
Major General William Webster has noted that the Baathists are still a powerful force in various parts of Iraq, and that they are re-organising resistance to the american ground forces.
He further noted that the Baathists, are enlisting help from foreign fighters, including elements from Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Saudia Arabia, Algeria, & even Chechnya.
With some political & military strategists arguing for an American / coalition presence in Iraq till at least 2007 ( five years ), it seems that the price for keeping the peace is going to be very high in American blood.
( This scenario is to a lesser extent also being played out in Afghanistan with American & coalition forces being subjected to increasing harrasment by the Taliban ).
With all the accusations and counter accusations flying around, as to legality or otherwise of this war in the first place; are we in danger of seeing America becoming embroiled in yet another Vietnam style conflict.
Will Iraq, & Afghanistan prove to be the turning points towards real Democracy in the Islamic world, or will America and her allies be forced to prop up unpopular pro- western governments & administrations in the face of growing local hostility.
Or will pressure on the American political homefront force a total withdrawl ?
Comments
Originally posted by Scott
When was [the] official end of the war?
I think it was when Bush announced the end of major combat a few months ago.
Originally posted by Scott
Oh! So when he didn't declare the war over that's when he declared the war over
Scott,
Thank you for your point, I stand corrected ( a little ) in that he did and he didn't
Trouble with declaring an " end " means that you kind of have to had an official declaration of war in the first place..
Which if I am correct was never delivered on the grounds that some in the White house argued that this recent Iraq campaign was merely an extension of the original Gulf war & issued under the same mandate.
Confused..I am a little..
Nevertheless, the point still remains in that some 35% to 40% of deaths amongst US soldiers in Iraq have been since his declaration of " Victory " on board the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
Ps:
To Scott & all other readers, I tried to post link but CNN refused connection. ( it's a plot )
You might be able to look up details in Google.
" Inside Politics ". CNN Friday May 2nd 2003, Reporters, White house correspondent, Dana Bash, & Sean Loughlin et al.
Cheers
Originally posted by aquafire
Will Iraq, & Afghanistan prove to be the turning points towards real Democracy in the Islamic world, or will America and her allies be forced to prop up unpopular pro- western governments & administrations in the face of growing local hostility.
Apparently you haven't been paying attention to what's happening in afghanistan. There's really no question about where it's all heading.
Originally posted by giant
Apparently you haven't been paying attention to what's happening in afghanistan. There's really no question about where it's all heading.
So Giant, Please enlighten me.
attack.
Garnerj, your correct in assessing the media's attitude to all such things. ( particularly middle eastern ). They, ( the media ) love nothing more than being " bedded " with the military, showing firefights etc. But as soon as peace breaks out they quickly lose interest and leave.
From a more cynical or alarming standpoint, there are governments who claim that the media play an active role in promoting or perpetuating violence and war.
In Israel, the IDF quickly noted that many Palestinian youths wouldn't start throwing stones etc unless there was a camera trained on them and or showing the fight from their angle.
At times it would be easy to conclude that peace is a deadly no no to media. But in their own defence, the media would argue that they are only reporting the facts.
Nor should we ignore the ratings pitch, after all, no one forces us back home to watch violence in the news. Seems we have a perverse addiction to violence, that both the media and advertising gurus recognize and feed.
Originally posted by Scott
I think the media would argue that they show what people want to see. Ratings.
Yes.." The ratings war "
Just a thought.
Originally posted by nixi
It's a pitty Hollywood hasn't released any mega war-movies, lately. Maybe that would have kept the US government (and people/spectators) satisfied.
Just a thought.
Stop putting thoughts into Hollywood. They're a danger unto themselves....
On the other hand..they need new ideas...
How about R rated Bambi does Baghdad ?
[B]Since the official end of the war in Iraq, the number of attacks on American troops has been steadily increasing.
To date, 56 US soldiers have been killed since the end of official hostilities. ( 138 in total since the first days of the war )
With another 9 more killed (including 6 Brits ) in the last four days alone.
I can't tell you how much it grieves me.