An Iraq Update
I don't usually post very much about Iraq, because every news blogger is covering it to death, but I've seen a few stories lately that are worth posting.
I was going to post a story from SpaceWar (which is, mysteriously, now publishing stories by UPI, not AFP; perhaps a name change?), but it was so poorly written, biased, and inaccurate that I won't have a link to it on my blog.
While discussing the war with one of my soldier buddies the other day, I was pointed toward this story, which led me to this post, which is a bit more comprehensive on the subject. Do you remember the news media covering the hell out of the discovery of an Iraqi chemical weapons lab? Neither do I. That second link also includes this link from DefenseLink, which is worth reading as well. So much for that whole "Saddam wasn't developing chemical weapons" theory.
I was checking the BBC News website yesterday because I heard rumblings that Iran was up to something, and ran across this article about IEDs. Normally the BBC publishes pretty lousy stories, particularly about Iraq, but this one's pretty accurate. My job involves training soldiers in survival, evasion, and defeat of IEDs, and I think that the figures are pretty telling: 427 coalition deaths from IEDs last year, compared to only 227 so far this year. I realize that we're not done with the year yet, but at this rate the casualty figures from year to year are on course to be noticeably reduced, and that's a good thing.
I don't agree with the editorial tack taken by this article about the danger of Shiite militias in Iraq, but there's at least some interesting information contained in the article. I don't buy into the claims by anti-American rhetoricians that Iraq is descending, or has descended, into a civil war. I also think, as I've always thought, that things are better in Iraq than the media, particularly European and Arab media, want us to believe. The terrorists have failed at all of their goals, al-Zarqawi is dead and his network has been dealt a massive blow by the confiscation of his address book.
Remember the Iranian Katyusha rockets that Hezbollah has been firing at Israel? An Iraqi Army patrol discovered and neutralized several of them aimed at British troops in late July. In addition, several provinces, including the British-controlled Maysan province, are nearing the point of handover. Whether the anti-Bush crowd will admit it or not, progress, real progress, is being made in Iraq.
I was going to post a story from SpaceWar (which is, mysteriously, now publishing stories by UPI, not AFP; perhaps a name change?), but it was so poorly written, biased, and inaccurate that I won't have a link to it on my blog.
While discussing the war with one of my soldier buddies the other day, I was pointed toward this story, which led me to this post, which is a bit more comprehensive on the subject. Do you remember the news media covering the hell out of the discovery of an Iraqi chemical weapons lab? Neither do I. That second link also includes this link from DefenseLink, which is worth reading as well. So much for that whole "Saddam wasn't developing chemical weapons" theory.
I was checking the BBC News website yesterday because I heard rumblings that Iran was up to something, and ran across this article about IEDs. Normally the BBC publishes pretty lousy stories, particularly about Iraq, but this one's pretty accurate. My job involves training soldiers in survival, evasion, and defeat of IEDs, and I think that the figures are pretty telling: 427 coalition deaths from IEDs last year, compared to only 227 so far this year. I realize that we're not done with the year yet, but at this rate the casualty figures from year to year are on course to be noticeably reduced, and that's a good thing.
I don't agree with the editorial tack taken by this article about the danger of Shiite militias in Iraq, but there's at least some interesting information contained in the article. I don't buy into the claims by anti-American rhetoricians that Iraq is descending, or has descended, into a civil war. I also think, as I've always thought, that things are better in Iraq than the media, particularly European and Arab media, want us to believe. The terrorists have failed at all of their goals, al-Zarqawi is dead and his network has been dealt a massive blow by the confiscation of his address book.
Remember the Iranian Katyusha rockets that Hezbollah has been firing at Israel? An Iraqi Army patrol discovered and neutralized several of them aimed at British troops in late July. In addition, several provinces, including the British-controlled Maysan province, are nearing the point of handover. Whether the anti-Bush crowd will admit it or not, progress, real progress, is being made in Iraq.
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