Damn those Yankee death dogs

[BT]

    BAGHDAD -- Iraqi civilian deaths in Baghdad dropped significantly in June, a possible indication that recent American military operations around the country and raids on car-bomb shops in the "belts" ringing the capital are starting to pay off.

    But June also marked the end of the bloodiest quarter for U.S. troops since the war began in March 2003.

    Unofficial figures compiled by McClatchy Newspapers' show 189 Iraqis, including police and government security forces, were killed in the capital through Friday, a drop of almost two thirds since this year's high in February, when 520 were killed. The average monthly death toll of Iraqis in Baghdad was 410 from December through May.

    The downturn in civilian deaths in Baghdad, should the figures hold, could arm Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, with the kind of results he needs to forestall pressure to set timetables on troop withdrawals. He is scheduled to deliver a progress report on the war to Congress in September.

http://www.centredaily.com/news/nation/story/140542.html

[Michael Tee]

I wonder if this doesn't mean the Iraqis are turning their energies from killing each other to killing Americans.

Americans like the English before them seem to be getting very skillful at exploiting the religious (or perhaps more accurately tribal and clan) fault lines that run through Iraq, pitting Sunni against Shi'ite, secular Sunni against Islamic fundamentalists and Kurd against all Arabs, in a classic adaptation of the "divide and rule" maxim.  It could work well for them.  We may be much closer to a "happy ending" (from the Bush and Cheney POV) than we realize.  The Resistance certainly seems to have reached the point where it desperately needs a new tactic.

Meantime, the whole hydrocarbons law story seems to have vanished from the face of the earth.  There is virtually no MSM information on the current status of the proposed legislation and almost nothing publicly available that would show how hydrocarbons revenue was collected and disbursed during the Saddam Hussein years, and particularly the years prior to the embargo.  Prior practices would, of course, provide a kind of bench-mark against which the new hydrocarbons law, when it finally passes, can be measured.  I have a feeling that one of the biggest natural resources rip-offs in the history of the world is about to be pulled off, in as much secrecy as the evil, greedy bastards who orchestrated this human catastrophe can manage.

[BT]

No it means that Iraqi's have had enough of this senseless Iraqi on Iraqi slaughter. And they know they are to blame.

[Michael Tee]

<<No it means that Iraqi's have had enough of this senseless Iraqi on Iraqi slaughter.>>

That would be too bad for the U.S.  Then they could all unite to drive out the invader instead of competing for his support against other Iraqis.

[BT]

That's one option.
Let's see if it happens.

They won't do it on the battlefield. Let's see if they can do it at the drum circles or the mall.

[Michael Tee]

'Fraid you lost me with the drum circles and the mall, but I'll have to check in tomorrow on it.

[BT]

Let me splain it to you. They won't beat ths US soldiers. But they just might sap th ewill of the american people to see this through. They are waging a war in the media as well as the battlefield.

You knew that right?

All they have to do is make this about Bush.

It isn't, but to you that fact doesn't matter.

[sirs]

Yet again, the definative picture of Tee hoping upon hope more of our U.S. military get the crud kicked out of them, if not simply outright killed     

[Michael Tee]

<<Let me splain it to you. They won't beat ths US soldiers. But they just might sap th ewill of the american people to see this through. They are waging a war in the media as well as the battlefield.>>

I think we just have different definitions of "beating them on the battlefield."  IMO, when they are still fielding active forces and the Americans have taken so many casualties that the sheeple finally get fed up and can't take it any more and call their dogs home, they've beaten America on the battlefield.  And I say "beaten on the battlefield" because that's where the body bags were filled up till the Magic Number was finally hit, because that Magic Number is the only thing that's going to end this war, certainly not the number of Iraqi deaths. 

Americans historically have shown an infinite tolerance for civilian casualties in their assaults upon the Third World, in fact it's very puzzling: for people who supposedly are concerned only to bring "democracy" and its wondrous benefits to these poor benighted souls who lack any idea of how to run their own affairs, the Americans just don't give a rat's ass as to how many of them they have to kill in the process.  As Tommy Franks says, "We don't do body counts."

<<You knew that right?>>

I knew that both sides wage a hot war and a media war, yes.  Your Michael Yon is a good example of a new type of American media warrior.  What I didn't get was the drum circles.  WTF you talking about?

<<All they have to do is make this about Bush.

<<It isn't, but to you that fact doesn't matter. >>

Well, it must have a LITTLE to do with Bush.  I believe it was his decision, finally, to invade.  And as far as I know, he's still the C-in-C.  He was the C-in-C for Abu Ghraib and Falluja wasn't he?  Does this guy bear absolutely ZERO responsibility for ANYTHING?  Not in my books.  I will agree that he didn't originate the project, that the will to conquer Iraq is deeper than Bush and extends to "both" parties, but Bush is at least as much a part of the execution of the plan as anyone else is.

[Plane]

Meantime, the whole hydrocarbons law story seems to have vanished from the face of the earth.  There is virtually no MSM information on the current status of the proposed legislation and almost nothing publicly available that would show how hydrocarbons revenue was collected and disbursed during the Saddam Hussein years, and particularly the years prior to the embargo. 

I think the Hydrocarbon law is very interesting and I don't know why t isn't being reported much.

I don't even know why it is a difficult debate in the Iriqui Parliment If tey don't get this one right they might aswell not bother with anything elese.

[Xavier_Onassis]

My guess is that the Iraqi parliament is a very confusing venue for Iraqis, and we have few reporters who are fluent enough in both Arabic and Iraqi politics to actually understand what is going on.

As for all this "success of the mighty surge" stuff, it sounds a lot like the "body count" phase of Vietnam. We are killing LOTS more of them than they are of us. So how could we not be winning?

Just give this/that/ the next thing a chance. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

If the American people were actually buying this crap, we would hear that McCain was leading everyone in donations and votes.

But he isn't, and they aren't.

[The_Professor]

Let me splain it to you. They won't beat ths US soldiers. But they just might sap th ewill of the american people to see this through. They are waging a war in the media as well as the battlefield.

You knew that right?

ala Vietnam....

[Michael Tee]

<<I think the Hydrocarbon law is very interesting and I don't know why t isn't being reported much.>>

Let me put it this way, plane.  From the POV of those who promoted the war in the first place, and their lap-dog media, the less you know about it, the better.   When it finally becomes law, if the American people can understand it, they will be able to figure out why they really went to war and those who lost their sons and daughters might not be too thrilled to find out.  (I'm assuming it's gonna be a gigantic rip-off of the entire country's oil resources and if it is not, I will be absolutely amazed.  It would be like hearing that Tony Soprano bid on a construction contract only so the profits could be donated to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.)

I would be interested to see, not only an authoritative analysis of the law (the full text would probably be impenetrable to anyone who didn't have at least a couple of weeks, maybe a full month, to study it) but also a comparison with the prevailing law in the Saddam Hussein era.