Comments on: Yahoo! Continues to Lead with Bad News from Iraq

By: Amy Proctor

Amy Proctor — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:58:51 +0000

It could be that Yahoo doesn't know much about counterinsurgency operations.Â The Iraqi forces in the south putting the smack down on the Shia militias are also Shia.Â This is extremely significant and shows the level of progress.Â I think the Brits should have hung around longer, but this is the same military that was captured by Iranians in Iraqi waters and completely crumbled like little school girls under the pressure.Â I don't expect much more from them. It is necessary, however, for the Iraqi military to engage in real engagments of this sort.Â There's nothing like on the job training. Also, we're 1/2 way through the counterinsurgency.Â Violent resurgents happen at this point as the host nation military steps in and takes the place of the assisting military.Â Maybe Yahoo should listen to some of GEN Petraeus' briefings sometime, and read a few COIN manuals before inferring all is going to hell in a handbasket. Or maybe that's what they want us to believe? I'm just an Army wife and I know more about counterinsurgency and military operations than those journalists.Â Too bad.

By: ThatGayConservative

ThatGayConservative — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:40:02 +0000

If the drive-bys didn’t blur the lines between news and opinion, there would be less "news" out there. The papers wouldn’t be as thick as they are.

Then again, I don’t see a hell of a lot of difference between the Lakeland Ledger (NYT) and those free city paper rags.

By: heliotrope

heliotrope — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:51:29 +0000

Please excuse the forward praise, but you do a great job in your due diligence and variety of posts. Thanks, Dan.

By: cme

cme — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:11:48 +0000

It seems the uptick in violence is mostly due to Sadr’s dead-enders basically ending the cease fire. Â It was nice having them lie low for a while, but it seemed inevitable that at some point they would come back. Â Maybe now we can finally dismantle them for good.

By: North Dallas Thirty

North Dallas Thirty — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:40:40 +0000

Oh, and the latest; seems Saddam was paying for his useful idiots to come visit.

By: North Dallas Thirty

North Dallas Thirty — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:40:37 +0000

The other article in Time about the Basra situation has this interesting point. Many Iraqis blame Basra's descent into chaos on flawed British strategy. They contend that in their haste to draw down forces, the British did little to train and bolster the local police force. Instead, many militia fighters were recruited into the police, making the force a part of Basra's problems rather than a solution. Or, in other words, the Democrat Party solution of cut and run has already been tried and found to exacerbate the problem.