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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Monday, August 06, 2007

Iraq and "The Other War"

(WaPo) The 60,000 missing US supplied weapons finally made the front pages. (This story is based on a report that came out last Tuesday!!)

(BBC) "The US-led coalition in Iraq has failed to deliver nearly two-thirds of the equipment it promised to Iraq's army."

(AP) Suicide truck bomb kills 28 in Tal Afar.

(NYTimes) Jalal Talabani is acting as go between in an effort to bring the Sunnis back into Maliki's government.

(Reuters) "Iraqi police said on Sunday they had found 60 decomposed bodies dumped in thick grass in Baquba."

(AP) Lt. Gen Odierno said that Shia militias were responsible for 73% of all attacks on US forces last month. He blames it on success against Al Qaeda and meddling Iran. (I might point out that US working with Sunnis who kill Shia civilians might have something to do with the hostility.)

(Newsweek) "The Iraq war has turned into a veritable 'martyr' factory, unlike any seen in previous conflicts."

(Reuters) "The bodies of 18 people, including two women, were found dumped across Baghdad in the past 24 hours....A barrage of mortar rounds at a petrol station killed 11 people....Two U.S. soldiers were killed in combat in Baghdad on Sunday...."

And, (Reuters) I'm really surprised this hasn't gotten more play with the US now supporting Sunni fighters and the Sunnis dominating parts of the army.
Hazim al-Araji, a leader of the Sadrist movement, escaped an assassination attempt when gunmen in army uniforms attacked him as he left a Sadr office in the northwestern Kadhimiya district of Baghdad, a Sadr official said.

In "The Other War"

(AFP) "Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a key US ally, contradicted US assessments of the threat posed by Iran and insisted in an interview aired Sunday that Tehran played a beneficial role in his region."

(AP) "In the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the United States and its allies have essentially gotten nowhere lately, says Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"We are not closer, we are not further away from it," Karzai said ahead of his two-day summit with President Bush at Camp David, Md. "We are where we were a few years ago."

(AP) "Afghanistan will produce another record poppy harvest this year....Afghanistan's poppy production has risen up to 15 percent since 2006 and that the country now accounts for 95 percent of the world's crop."

(And don't miss the big Turk/Kurd article from last night.)

4 Comments:

  • When Gen. Odierno says the Shiite militias were responsible for 73% of all attacks on U.S. forces last month, I can't help noticing the wiggle room in that statement. One assumes that IEDs count as attacks... but can they really tell who's planting which IEDs? 73% of all attacks... but what percentage of casualties? My suspicion, based on Odierno's record of relentless spin, is that if it suits his purposes, he'll count a wild potshot in Sadr City as an "attack" just like an IED in Anbar that kills 3 GIs.

    Not to minimize the danger from Shiite militias... but it sure would be nice if we could get objective data about it.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:11 PM  

  • That's a really good point.

    It's seems precise with 73%, but very vague as to what that 73% means. (More than likely it means the US is meeting with Iran again.)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 3:27 PM  

  • Odierno can pretty much say whatever he wants. Who's going to argue?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:32 PM  

  • Yeah. Like the Bush administration on "classified" terror matters, he has total control of the facts.

    He can release what he wants, when he wants, shaped how he wants.

    (And still neither is winning their argument cleanly.)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 3:36 PM  

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