Article

2004-07-02 Iraq-Jordan

Ex-CPA official sees no dent in insurgency

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Dan Darling 2004-07-02 9:00:11 AM|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 another unnamed senior official. Does the NY Times have ANY named sources for their spin stories? From the paper that had Blair on its payroll

Posted by Frank G 2004-07-02 9:42:02 AM|| 2004-07-02 9:42:02 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Amen, Frank.

Border control. Iraq and America have the same problem. I'm thinking moats, friendship fences, mebbe double-walls 50-100 yds apart full of pit vipers and camel spiders, remote-controlled machine guns with IR / CCD cameras, blimps, UAV's, and Zero Tolerance, myself.

Posted by .com 2004-07-02 10:37:03 AM|| 2004-07-02 10:37:03 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 It's awe inspiring. They have letters from our enemies saying they're being constricted and they're losing and yet they continue to babble this rubbish. Impressive display stupidity in the face of facts.

Posted by Damn_Proud_American 2004-07-02 10:37:41 AM|| [http://brighterfuture.blogspot.com] 2004-07-02 10:37:41 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 The former senior occupation official, speaking in Washington on condition of anonymity at the request of the White House,
It would appear that in this instance it's the White House that has requested the senior officer withold his name.

Posted by rex 2004-07-02 11:28:43 AM|| 2004-07-02 11:28:43 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Border control. Iraq and America have the same problem. I'm thinking moats,
What about swine manure laid thickly around the borders of Iraq, except where there are border check points?

Posted by rex 2004-07-02 11:31:09 AM|| 2004-07-02 11:31:09 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 It seems to me iffin' a former spook/state fella really believed that our efforts in Iraq had no effect, they would come out to say it. There are benefits to doing so:

1) If indeed it turns out to be so, the official can say with a good deal of confidence he/she was merely speaking in the nation's best interests by pointing out an element in this war overlooked.

2) The publication you are speaking to can't be accused of pushing an agenda, so the next time you speak, you can have as much credibility as before.

Let's face it folks. There are no amount of US/coalition/allied casualties/deaths/murders so great, the NY Times will not publish defeatist 'news' stories such as this.

And there is a great supply of ex-CIA and ex-State folks ( as well as current CIA and State ) who have been affected by the Bush administration push to actually protect the USA, rather than continue overlooking terrorist attacks; all of these brave folks unwilling to have their name published through fear that the USA will actually be a safer place and their 'knowledge' be challenged in a real world situtation.

Posted by badanov 2004-07-02 12:02:47 PM|| [http://www.rkka.org] 2004-07-02 12:02:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 "the number of insurgents had stayed constant at 4,000 to 5,000, suggesting that as soon as they are killed or captured, they have been replaced."

Hmmm. Sure, you can "replace" people at the level of "day laborer," the guy who gets $150 to play lookout for an ambush. But by definition -- at least for Iraqis and not foreigners -- the "hard core" was what they started with in April '03, and it can't have expanded, nor can it really be replaced, since then.

The Wash Post used to (maybe still doesn, haven't looked at the dead-tree version in years) publish a "murder map" which dramatically illustrated how concentrated the city's famous homicides were in a few areas of town. A similar up-to-date map showing "insurgent" attacks, and especially one discriminating between suicide bombings and more conventional types of attacks, throughout Iraq would be most interesting. We all know it would show perhaps 90% of attacks confined to a few parts of Baghdad and of course the Triangle.

Sounds easy for me to say, but I don't see the mystery at breaking the domestic insurgency -- in fact we're doing most of the right things already. It just takes time. I think there might have been a much harsher "stick" element to the carrot-and-stick in the Triangle, plus especially (even today) extensive restrictions on transportation (these guys and arms and bombs aren't walking anywhere, they're being driven). But that's based on the limited view one has, depending on poor media coverage and limited direct info from forces in the field.

On the positive side, a friend who's in the flow of info said there was an immediate and noticeable uptick in cooperation by Iraqis following the hand-over on Monday. If Allawi continues to show a savvy touch, I'm tempted to be quite optimistic -- of course using reasonable and historically literate benchmarks, not NYT silliness.

Posted by Verlaine 2004-07-02 1:38:00 PM|| 2004-07-02 1:38:00 PM|| Front Page Top

12:05 Sakina A. Walsh
18:01 Jen
17:43 Anonymous5603
20:30 Frank G
19:59 Rusotxo
17:42 Quetzalcoatl
12:41 Frank G
11:39 CrazyFool
01:19 Anonymous4617
00:55 Super Hose
00:52 .com
00:45 trailing wife
00:44 Old Spook
00:41 trailing wife
23:45 Verlaine
23:45 Verlaine
23:44 Verlaine
23:44 Verlaine
23:44 Verlaine
23:38 Verlaine
23:34 OldSpook
23:23 OldSpook
23:21 Barbara Skolaut
23:18 OldSpook