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Things Are Swell in Baghdad

By Larry Johnson on July 18, 2007 at 4:04 PM in Current Affairs, Iraq

by

Larry C Johnson

In case you wondered whether or not the surge was working and the situation in Baghdad improving, read this:

07/18/07 NYTimes: Life in the ‘red zone
  • ybnormal

    Things Are Swell Hell in Baghdad

    and the devil speaks in self-righteous arrogance

  • Mr.Murder

    Two COmment Rule in Senate. McCain spoke more than one time last night.

    Someone please check the record(still open) and see on whose time balance he did so. If not the issue goes up or down vote. There’s enough votes to pass muster in Senate on a simple majority.

    Now it would have to go accompanied by other rules because of the vote, but please have your Senator examine this chance. It would be odd to see McCain break Senate rules twice in a week to undo both his candidacy and his stance on Iraq.

  • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

    What a brave woman, and it’s so important she depicts the daily stresses of Iraqis in Baghdad. Must be horrendous :(

  • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

    Nightline did a terrific segment two nights ago featuring the video that The Guardian‘s Sean Smith shot as he followed U.S. soldiers around Baghdad. It was horrific.

    The video is a must-watch — and there’s a text report + photographs:

    A Violent, ‘Normal’ Day in Baghdad
    Photojournalist Captures the Troop Surge Firsthand, as Soldiers Navigate the Perils of Baghdad

    There are 430 comments about this piece. It really struck a nerve. Sample:

    As the wife of an OIF veteran, THANK YOU f…
    rnic 12:54 PM
    Unmanged news – the truth at last! Thank y…
    Gini Connor 11:01 AM
    Thank you, thank you, thank you for being …
    SaraJane1953 10:25 AM

  • Rob

    You know what kills me here? The stupidity of the press to ask intelligent questions and the fact that the Bush administration has a math problem they are fudging.

    Can anyone tell me the ratio of support personnel to infantry “trigger pullers” of both the US Army and or Marines?

    Army is what? 5 to One (some schools say 7 to one). Marines 3 to One.

    Now we have how many total servicemembers in Iraq right now? About 163,000? With these ratio’s of support vs. infantry how many actual trigger pullers do we really have fighting a insurgency?

    17 to maybe 20K? Now what is OPFORCE ratios and strength? Just stupid and a waste of life all around….

    Either fight the fight the right way or time to come HOME!

  • Todd

    Hey Larry and fellow commenters, just thought, if you hadn’t seen it, you might enjoy Sen. Landrieu’s smackdown of the Repub talking points about the all-nite filibuster; Sen. Landrieu is on fire and puts paid to the notion that it was grandstanding or that it’s not the place of the US Senate to debate or argue about something (imagine that, open, clear disagreement in the US Senate….)

    http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/18/thank-you-senator-landrieu/

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      Thanks, Todd. Didn’t know that C&L got Sen. Landrieu’s speech. She was on fire, and smacked down some Republican senator who wanted to ask her a question. Her big “NO!” to him was priceless. She caught me by surprise since she so often votes cautiously due to her constituency. Which may signal that her constituents are pressuring her on Iraq, a good sign.

  • retr2327

    An interesting article, but is the attribution to the NYT accurate? It’s captioned IHT -

  • http://www.rewinn.com r e winn

    If you define “success” to mean ethnically clensed neighborhoods, leading to a reduction in sectarian violence because all the handy victims are dead or done … then maybe around the time of the Republican National Convention, “success” will be declared.

    But why would such “success” would be worth a single drop of American blood?

  • PrchrLady
    • Rob

      PrchrLady the answer is simple… and having contractors running around a battlefield is not new either while convoy support in Iraq is not doing very well. Even during Vietnam we had some 537,377 troops on the ground plus a large corp of contractors. Back then, no one cared about the troops, that today is very different. The problem today is just one thing that is very much in common with the Vietnam War. Leadership… both civilian and military.

      Though I am new to this blog and might push the limits with my next remark, but I really have to say it about John McCain and his latest DC dance. Admiral McCain has to be rolling over in his grave the way his son has become such a DC insider and political snob.

      I will also note with sadness the passing a of a soldiers, soldier. General Wayne Downing… If we only had more Wayne Downings in the officer corp, much of this would be history today…

  • PrchrLady

    another link of interest on Blackwater traing camps

  • PrchrLady
  • Montag

    When Congress changed majorities the Republicans had the GALL to say that, “The Democratic Majority should treat us as they would have LIKED to be treated when they were in the Minority.” In other words, the usual do-as-we-say-not-as-we-corkscrewed-you. Unbelieveable! Talk about trying to change the rules in the middle of the game. It’s time the Democratic Majority started to put some stick about, as in: “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”

  • Leslie

    How long was the NIE report available before it was publicly released? A month? The Bushie timing on the release of the NIE, the capture TWO WEEKS AGO of yet another TOP al Qaeda leader in Iraq, the NIE’s and Pentagon’s claim that al Qaeda in Iraq is a threat to the US, the Bushie/Grand Obstruction Party claims that we have to stay in Iraq to fight al Qaeda [even though they didn't exist prior to the US-led invasion and we're mostly fighting Iraqis], the fact that al Qaeda is gaining strength in Pakistan [who was it told Musharraf to offer bin Laden a truce in 2006? Oh yeah, Bush]…all of this while Dems are trying to push a troop withdrawal bill and we head into 2008 campaign season…and right before Bush goes on vacation for the entire month of August again. Yet we’re told to be very, very afraid.

    How many billions$ spent on two wars allegedly in this GWOT, over 3,600 US troops dead and thousands more wounded, tens of thousands of Iraqis dead, millions driven from their homes and al Qaeda is ostensibly as strong as it was the summer of 2001. Right on cue, bin Laden comes out with another video. The Bushies want us to be afraid!

    Yet they claim they’re strong on terrorism and national security?! The HELL they are. The Dems ought to bash them over the head with this.

    • bohewasp

      Am I the only one waiting for a new false flag attack on America?

      The stage is being set with the sudden flurry of “gut feelings”, national intelligence estimates, bin Laden’s latest cameo, Arkansas yahoos saying we need to be attacked again to get everyone with the Bush program, Santorum’s comments, etc.

      There will be an “attack” worse than 9/11 and some Iranian passport will be “found” in the debris of said attack. Then we’ll be off and running, perhaps starting WWIII with a nuclear attack.

      Are we going to blog right through to the end? Or are we going to start screaming from the rooftops to stop this before it is too late? What the hell can we do?

  • Shirin

    Leslie,

    Not ONLY did they manage to capture – just in time for this P.R. campaign – one of the “senior leaders” (does that mean he is over 65, or what?) of Al Qa`eda knock-off, so-called Al Qa`eda in Iraq, they got him to say, right on cue, just what they needed us to hear!

    - That Al Qa`eda in Iraq is being directed from outside of Iraq.

    - That he was a “conduit” between top leaders of Al Qa`eda and its knock-off so-called Al Qa`eda in Iraq.

    - He was the “intermediary” between Al Qa`eda in Iraq’s top, top leader Abu Ayyub Al Masri and bin Laden and Dhawahiri (does not explain why it was necessary to have an intermediary between the top, top guy in AQI and numbers one and two of the real Al Qa`eda, but oh well!).

    Wow! How convenient is that?!

  • Shirin

    Oh yeah – and they didn’t release the news of his capture for two weeks because they wanted to “maximize their ability to get information from him” before his “associates” knew he had been captured – like his “associates” couldn’t have figured it out when he suddenly disappeared?

    I wonder what “enhanced interrogation techniques” they used to get him to give them exactly the information the Bushies’ high priced P.R. firms told them they needed.

  • ybnormal

    More NIE insight from Ray McGovern, also a VIPS member.

    “Bush’s Wooden-headedness Kills”

    He begins with a quote of late historian Barbara Tuchman: “Wooden-headedness…plays a remarkably large role in government. It consists in assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts.”

    He also suggests a precision tool which easily drills through the wood.

    • Tomas del Sol

      Barbara Tuchman’s books should be required reading for anyone who needs to make foriegn policy decisions.

  • Sue

    This is kind of sad. My personal thread wasn’t moved to the new digs. ::sigh::

    • Sue

      Just testing. I like the new digs, BTW, even though I didn’t rate a move with you.

  • Sue

    they didn’t release the news of his capture for two weeks

    They didn’t release the news because they wanted to torture him before the news media could report it.

  • Shirin

    Here is a site I strongly recommend for those who want to get a sense of what is going on in Iraq on a daily basis. It is an excellent compilation, updated every day, with a section on security incidents, and News and Views. The original site, found here http://dailywarnews.blogspot.com/ was started back in June, 2003, by Yankee Doodle, a former military person. All posts through April of this year are archived there. The current site is located at http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/.

    The dedicated people who maintain and update this site put in long hours and work very hard researching and locating material, and then posting it, and the result is an invaluable record of events.

    I strongly recommend a daily visit just to scan through the day’s news, views, and events.

  • Shirin

    Sue, you need to get your terminology straight.

    America does not torture.

    America uses something much better. It is called enhanced interrogation techniques™.

  • PrchrLady

    Excellent site Shirin, I remember it from sometime ago, and lost track… thanks for updated link.

    Wanted to comment earlier on Mr. Murder’s comment…

    ” Two COmment Rule in Senate. McCain spoke more than one time last night.

    Someone please check the record(still open) and see on whose time balance he did so. If not the issue goes up or down vote. There’s enough votes to pass muster in Senate on a simple majority.

    Now it would have to go accompanied by other rules because of the vote, but please have your Senator examine this chance. It would be odd to see McCain break Senate rules twice in a week to undo both his candidacy and his stance on Iraq.”

    hope I did that right (learning curve for this ol gal takes awhile longer these day :( ) anyway, This is excellent point. I don’t know answer, but I will send to a friend, unless someone has current info. I do not. We need to use every tool at our disposale to get the sheeple to wake up. Too much, too bad, no good… time for change…

    Now, all this tuff going down, Mr. M, please help me here… we need to follow the money once again… you are good at that analysis.

    another comment by Rob, above…

    “Back then, no one cared about the troops, that today is very different. The problem today is just one thing that is very much in common with the Vietnam War. Leadership… both civilian and military.

    Though I am new to this blog and might push the limits with my next remark, but I really have to say it about John McCain and his latest DC dance. Admiral McCain has to be rolling over in his grave the way his son has become such a DC insider and political snob.

    I will also note with sadness the passing a of a soldiers, soldier. General Wayne Downing… If we only had more Wayne Downings in the officer corp, much of this would be history today… “

    First, welcome aboard, and I know I can speak for most others here, when we say that your input is welcome… sometimes we get trolled to death, but people here don’t take BS from anyone…

    I agree with you about Adm McCain, from what I have heard from some non coms, in Navy… don’s know all of it, but he must have been a hell of a guy… don’t know about Downings, but hope you will share… Montag does history stuff too, which is always good… hint, hint…

    Last, and need to sy this … This time, those of us that lived and fought and lost many friends to the horrors of Vietnam, this time, look and see where the fight is being lead… By the Veterans, by the Mothers and Fathers who sufferted thru so many things… by the people of this Nation, who are willing to stand up and shout and get naked if we have to, to keep it out in their face. We demand that we are heard…. No more tweety bird antics, as I read today… God, I’m angry as helkl, and I’ WON’T take it any more… What person, among us, can not say that this administration, by it’s horrendous acts in the NAME of the PEOPLE of the US, can NOT say they ore guilty and should be punished for war Crimes??? Send them all to the Hague; I’ll donate my SS income for the next month or two…pay for a downpayment on a flight out of US for all of them at one time… can join their Saudi friends, who snuck out with scrubco’s blessing right after 911….

    Vomitorium (thanks, Shirn), has been full most of day, time to check in once again…. sorry for the long OT rant…..

    • Leslie

      Ditto, PrchrLady!

    • Leslie

      PrchrLady,
      I’ve been doing a little research into your cognitive/communication difficulties, which you’ve described in a few posts, and I may have found the cause in a recent Center for Disease Control report: Bushie Exasperation Syndrome or BES.

      Intelligent people are highly susceptible and it’s also highly contagious. However, inexplicably, those with low IQs are immune.

  • osama_been_forgotten

    You know this “senior AQI guy” is probably some junior wack-job who’s talking trash. Yeah right. He WISHES OBL had him on speed-dial. (And so does Cheney).

  • Shirin

    Very eloquent rant, PrchrLady.

    And you are welcome to the vomitorium any time.

  • PrchrLady

    This is probably last post for night, but want to share this U Tube Video, which is on military response to DU (or lack therof same), not only did they lie to the troops, but think of all the people who live there, and will suffer from bushco. imhumanity for thousands of years to come…. we must find a better way.

    ” alt=”DU video” />

  • PrchrLady

    well that didn’t work, trying again

  • PrchrLady
  • rjj

    Not sure how fast this has gotten around.

    At least it has been said out loud, i.e. in print.

    My suspicions have at their base the feeling I have that, given their operating style now, this bunch will not leave the White House easily in 2009.

    http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070718/OPINION04/707180321

  • Montag

    Shirin,
    They probably just gave the “Senior Al Qaeda” man a fruit basket. Hey, for a handful of dates I’ll sing like a canary.

    Some interesting developments. The Lehrer Newshour had a piece on the misbegotten V-22 Osprey, which will be deployed in Iraq in September. This is truly the gun that shoots backwards! You know those sophisticated “cutting edge” weapons that look great on the drawing board but are Hell to actually use? That’s the Albatross…er, Osprey. I guess they thought U.S. soldiers had it too easy in Iraq, so they’d make it more interesting.

    Another point, you know those “impregnable” MRAP vehicles that they’re all screaming about but can’t actually get TO the troops? They’re already coming up with add-on armor kits for them, but it’s TOO HEAVY for the vehicles to bear! The troops don’t even have them yet and already they’re obsolete. We need to rename the Defense Dept. the “Day-Late-And-A-Dollar-Short Dept.” Man, when Clinton’s Defense Secretary Les Aspin refused to send tanks to Somalia when they were requested and that Blackhawk rescue went horribly wrong because they didn’t have any tanks, he was out of there SO fast!

    • http://andrewduncan.ca AndrewD

      Montag, I was re-reading Mark Bowden’s book last month and that point struck a nerve with me. The resignation of Les Aspin after the ‘Black Hawk Down’ incident, painfully illustrates the different between then and now. At what point exactly, will somebody in this admin feel responsible for what has unfolded under their direct supervision. Where are the Les Aspin’s of today?

  • Shirin

    Andrew, surely you have figured out that the rule in in this administration is the more spectacularly you f*** up the more medals and promotions you get.

  • Shirin

    Montag,

    Especially if they are Iraqi dates*!

    * Iraq is famous for the extraordinary variety and quality of its dates, and prior to the imposition of the sanctions dates were one of Iraq’s major exports (Dromedary dates, an American brand, were all imported from Iraq).

  • mudkitty

    We all know the surge is more like a splat.

  • Montag

    Shirin,
    Speaking of incompetence, did you ever hear of the U.S. Army Camel Corps.? This was an experiment which was the brainchild of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis in the 1850s. Something like 100 camels were imported for use in overland communications and transportation between Camp Verde, Texas and Fort Yuma, CA. Although the camels worked fine, the long-suffering soldiers assigned to this duty hated them. The camels in California were soon sold off, but those in Texas were taken over by the Confederates when they seized the Federal assets. Supposedly they used the camels to deliver mail. When Texas surrendered in 1865, the Camel Corps. came back to haunt the U.S. Army, as the man holding the camels insisted they take them back, and billed them for their upkeep while in his care! These camels were sold off as well. Some of the camels were abandoned or escaped into the wild, leading many travellers who spotted them to think they were seeing things!

    A footnote to this historical footnote concerns the “camel expert” who was brought over with the camels, a man named Haj Ali. He remained in the U.S. and became so well known and beloved, (they Americanized his name to, “Hi Jolly”) that I believe they put up a statue to him and the camels somewhere–which he certainly deserved. After all, if you think about it, Haj Ali was the most expensive immigrant ever to come to the U.S.

    Jefferson Davis of course went on to become the worst American President until George Bush. It’s surpising that when his name was first put forward as Confederate President it wasn’t received with hoots of, “What about the CAMELS then, Jeff?”