DebateGate
General Category => 3DHS => Topic started by: Christians4LessGvt on January 18, 2008, 12:34:14 PM
-
Al Qaeda in Iraq's shrinking area of operations
By Bill Roggio
January 17, 2008 - 9:04 PM
Nearly one year to the day of the announcement of the "surge" of US forces to Iraq and the change in counterinsurgency plan, Iraqi and Coalition forces have shrunk al Qaeda's ability to conduct operations inside Iraq, a senior US commander said.
During a press briefing in Baghdad, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, the Commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, said al Qaeda in Iraq has been ejected from its strongholds in the cities to the rural regions of Iraq.
From late 2006 into 2007, "Iraq was caught in a cycle of bloodshed under the dark cloud of al Qaeda," said Odierno. Al Qaeda was "entrenched in numerous urban safe havens across Iraq" until the surge forces launched Operation Phantom Thunder in June 2007.
Al Qaeda in Iraq's network has been significantly degraded, but is still a threat. Al Qaeda remains active in regions near Miqdadiyah, Mosul, Hawijah, Samarra, and southeast of Baghdad in the Arab Jabour region. "Although the group remains a dangerous threat, its capabilities have been diminished," said Odierno. "Al Qaeda has been pushed out of urban centers like Baghdad, Ramadi, Fallujah and Baqubah, and forced into isolated rural areas. Many of their top leaders have been eliminated, and finding qualified replacements is increasingly difficult for them." Multinational Forces Iraq also estimates it has significantly degraded al Qaeda's ability to fund operations by dismantling its financier networks and leaders.
Operation Phantom Phoenix, the current nationwide operation targeting al Qaeda's remaining safe havens, was launched on Jan. 8. Iraqi and US forces have captured or killed 121 al Qaeda fighters, wounded 14, and detained an additional 1023 suspects. Al Qaeda's leadership has been hit hard during the operation, with 92 high values targets either killed or captured.
Iraqi and US forces have also discovered 351 weapons caches and four tunnel complexes, Odierno said. Iraqi and US forces have also discovered three car bomb and improvised explosive device [IED] factories and 410 IEDs, including 18 car bombs and 25 homes rigged with explosives. Also found were "numerous torture chambers, an underground medical clinic, several closed schools, and a large foreign fighter camp with intricate tunnel complexes," said Odierno.
The reduction of ethno-sectarian violence in Baghdad from December 2006 to December 2007. Ethno-sectarian violence is down 90 percent Baghdad from December 2006 to December 2007.
Iraqi security forces have conducted independent operations and deployments during Phantom Phoenix. An entire brigade was moved from Anbar province to Diyala, where a major fight against al Qaeda in Iraq is under way.
"With less than a week's notice the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Iraqi Army Division was alerted to deploy from Anbar province to Diyala province to support combat operations in the Diyala River Valley," said Odierno.? This was a good Iraqi decision and was executed solely by the Iraqis. Within 36 hours upon arrival, the 3rd Brigade uncovered two sizeable caches, gathered significant intelligence and aggressively hunted down al Qaeda in tough terrain and demanding climatic conditions." As recently as the spring of 2007 Anbar was the most violent province in Iraq.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/01/al_qaeda_in_iraqs_sh.php (http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/01/al_qaeda_in_iraqs_sh.php)
-
People got tired of reading and reporting lies like this a looong time ago.
-
<<People got tired of reading and reporting lies like this a looong time ago.>>
Maybe it's the Iraq War equivalent of the "light at the end of the tunnel" speech that Westmoreland gave in Viet Nam just before the Tet Offensive (which of course was a "great military victory" for the U.S.A.)
However in this case there's an added reason for the MSM not to get too excited about this - - Al Qaeda in Iraq is a minor component of the Iraqi Resistance, and they're obviously lying low during the "surge." They ain't goin' nowhere.
-
Has anyone thought of the other reason you may not hear this on the news?
Do these contractors such as KBR, CACI, Titan, Bechtel, and the others have any reason to want this war to ever end? As a corporation, do you ever wish to see your market dry up and go away?
I'm just asking.
-
A corporation's bad dream is not growing next quarter, next fiscal year.
To actually SHRINK is a corporate nightmare.
Corporations are vastly sophisticated arrangements, but they tend to react to occurrences in their environment more or less in the simplistic way of Pac-Man.
Peace and withdrawal from Iraq would be to Halliburton as Pac-Man becoming aware that Inky, Blinky or Pinky as on his trail. (Inky, Blinky and Pinky are 'liberals' or perhaps 'Islamofascist terrrorists' to Pac-Man,
Electing a Republican president would be like eating a "power pill."
-
Has anyone thought of the other reason you may not hear this on the news?
Do these contractors such as KBR, CACI, Titan, Bechtel, and the others have any reason to want this war to ever end? As a corporation, do you ever wish to see your market dry up and go away?
I'm just asking.
You forgot Halliburton whose former CEO lied US into this mess to begin with. Of course they want endless war.
-
more bad news for the "cheering for a US loss" crowd on the Left
(http://www.officesnapshots.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/logo1.gif)
"Iraq forces could control all provinces this year"
By David Morgan - Jan 17, 2008
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq's army and police could be ready to take over security in all 18 provinces by the end of this year as the U.S. military moves toward a less prominent role in the country, U.S. officials said on Thursday.
"We look at it every month. We make recommendations. I think that if we continue along the path we're on now, we'll be able to do that by the end of 2008," Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said when asked when Iraqi forces could take the lead in all provinces.
He said that a joint operation under way led by Iraqi troops and supported by U.S. troops against al Qaeda militants in the northern city of Mosul was a model for the future.
"That's how I see our role frankly in the future here," he told Pentagon reporters via videolink from Baghdad.
Iraqi security forces are now in control of nine provinces after assuming control of Iraqi's southern oil hub, Basra, in December.
Iraqi forces are also expected to take control in Anbar province, a one-time insurgent stronghold, as early as March.
The ability of Iraqi forces to take the lead in security operations is vital to President George W. Bush's plan to withdraw 20,000 U.S. troops by the middle of this year.
The troops were sent to Iraq last year in a bid to quell sectarian violence in a war now in its sixth year. With U.S. troop levels up to about 155,000 now, violence levels have since dropped sharply.
"All the evidence available to me now suggests we will be able to complete the drawdown," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters separately.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1724900020080117?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0 (http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1724900020080117?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0)
-
People got tired of reading and reporting lies like this a looong time ago.
And yet you read this. Must be interesting after all...
-
People got tired of reading and reporting lies like this a looong time ago.
And yet you read this. Must be interesting after all...
I think it is interesting that you morons keep believing and peddling this bullshit.
-
We do it just for you, Knute, since you actually read it. Keeps yu out of the courtroom. After all, one less lawyer in the courtroom is a victory for, well, EVERYONE!
-
We do it just for you, Knute, since you actually read it. Keeps yu out of the courtroom. After all, one less lawyer in the courtroom is a victory for, well, EVERYONE!
May I ask what the F*** you are talking about? You must have me confused with the bald guy from NJ.
-
We do it just for you, Knute, since you actually read it. Keeps yu out of the courtroom. After all, one less lawyer in the courtroom is a victory for, well, EVERYONE!
May I ask what the F*** you are talking about? You must have me confused with the bald guy from NJ.
My apologies then. Yuor viewpoints can be so similar...
-
OUCH......don't think Domer deserves that low a blow
-
We do it just for you, Knute, since you actually read it. Keeps yu out of the courtroom. After all, one less lawyer in the courtroom is a victory for, well, EVERYONE!
May I ask what the F*** you are talking about? You must have me confused with the bald guy from NJ.
My apologies then. Yuor viewpoints can be so similar...
I deeply resent that allegation. Domer is a pseudo lib . He even likes the dumbshit Lieberman. That is the worst.
-
Well, it is better than being referred to being incompatico with me or Sirs.
-
Well, it is better than being referred to being incompatico with me or Sirs.
======================================\
I observe that you have invented a Spanish word.
There is no such word as incompatico in Spanish.
The opposite of simp?tico (nice, pleasant, easy to get along with) is antip?tico (mean, nasty, resembling a junkyard dog or the mythical LeRoy Brown).
This is like the term 'n?mero uno' to mean 'the first, the best' Spanish correct;y uses the word ' el primero' for this.
'N?mero uno' seems to have come from the translation into Spanish by some Hispanic (possibly Puerto Rican) soldier of the Japanese term 'Dai ichi', which translates 'number one', or 'the first', 'the best'.
Then there are the terms 'exactamundo' and 'no problemo' , which writers stick in sitcom scripts, since they sound so utterly goofy in Spanish they always get a laugh out of the Los Angeles studio audiences.
Correct Spanish is 'exactamente' and 'no hay problema', which are not funny, b4ecause they don't sound like a gringo trying to speak espa?ol.
-
...<heavy sigh>....
So, XO, a friend of mine last week put his entire portfolio in TIAA-CREF (around $350K) in Growth stocks as he is convinced speculative stocks, contrary to the "crowd", will go bananas. Sounds bizarre to me. Your thoughts?
-
Well, it is better than being referred to being incompatico with me or Sirs.
======================================\
I observe that you have invented a Spanish word.
There is no such word as incompatico in Spanish.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The man clearly has no idea of what he is talking about . He must be a Professor of idiotology.
-
Information Technology -- we are used to creating new words.
-
Well, it is better than being referred to being incompatico with me or Sirs.
======================================\
I observe that you have invented a Spanish word.
There is no such word as incompatico in Spanish.
The opposite of simp?tico (nice, pleasant, easy to get along with) is antip?tico (mean, nasty, resembling a junkyard dog or the mythical LeRoy Brown).
This is like the term 'n?mero uno' to mean 'the first, the best' Spanish correct;y uses the word ' el primero' for this.
'N?mero uno' seems to have come from the translation into Spanish by some Hispanic (possibly Puerto Rican) soldier of the Japanese term 'Dai ichi', which translates 'number one', or 'the first', 'the best'.
Then there are the terms 'exactamundo' and 'no problemo' , which writers stick in sitcom scripts, since they sound so utterly goofy in Spanish they always get a laugh out of the Los Angeles studio audiences.
Correct Spanish is 'exactamente' and 'no hay problema', which are not funny, b4ecause they don't sound like a gringo trying to speak espa?ol.
I learned Simpatico a while back , it means pleasant company,and implys talkative , right?
So that there isn't an exact English translation in a single word.
When the French coin a new word , L'Acad'mie fran'aise gets involved , English new words are recognised in Oxford , Who recoginses or makes rulings on new words in Spanish?
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-FrenchAc.html
-
<<Who recoginses or makes rulings on new words in Spanish?>>
Reasonable question - - I know there's a Brazilian-Portugese academic body that tries to standardize Portuguese language as spoken in Brazil, Portugal, Angola and a few other Portuguese language enclaves, but Spanish would be a much bigger problem since there are so many Spanish-speaking countries.
from the Wikipedia article on Spanish Language:
<<The Real Academia Espa?ola (Royal Spanish Academy), together with the 21 other national ones (see Association of Spanish Language Academies), exercises a standardizing influence through its publication of dictionaries and widely respected grammar and style guides. Due to this influence and for other sociohistorical reasons, a standardized form of the language (Standard Spanish) is widely acknowledged for use in literature, academic contexts and the media.>>
-
Information Technology -- we are used to creating new words.
Just like Repubs make shit up as they go along, huh?
-
Are you really this petty?
-
(http://brandsoftheworld.com/brands/0017/1569/brand.gif)
(http://www.simpaticobeer.com/images/Image004.1.jpg)
-
Are you really this petty?
Oooh yeah, you'd better believe it Prof.
-
So, XO, a friend of mine last week put his entire portfolio in TIAA-CREF (around $350K) in Growth stocks as he is convinced speculative stocks, contrary to the "crowd", will go bananas. Sounds bizarre to me. Your thoughts?
=====================================================================
My thoughts are that is is indeed right. Growth stocks have the greatest potential to surge really high when the fickle finger of fate eventually gives them their turn. One does indeed make money by buying low and selling high, and at the absolute low of a class of stocks, no one wants them. Like Chrysler in the 80's, after the government bail-out.
Being 65, I am inclined to wait a while longer in the RE fund, because I see Growth stocks being flat or in a downward trend at least until the next administration takes over. I have in the past, earned around 29% in the Growth Fund. But every category is cyclical.
Right now, the cycle that show the best yields are Emerging Markets, Natural Resources, Latin America, and specialized Real Estate, like TIAA Real Estate. Some US largecaps are also on the rise.
-
Are you really this petty?
And you this duplicitous?