The Other Surge
Here's the real surge in Iraq: civilian deaths. Primarily by political assassination.
The UN reports today more than 34,000 Iraqi civilians killed in 2007. Almost 6500 killed in just the last two months.
Another half million internally displaced since outbreak of sectarian murder last February.
Almost a million Iraqis living as refugees in Jordan.
The good news: this isn't civil war.
The bad news: on a per capita basis this death toll would add up in the U.S. to nearly 400,000 dead per year.
The good news: The Bush and Maliki administrations predict that things should come under control by this coming summer.
The bad news: General William Westmoreland won't be around to see that miracle prophesy come true.
January 16th, 2007 at 10:49 am
One more “surge”…
My morning Chron has a frontpage headline – “40% of Iraqi middle-class believed to have fled crumbling nation.”
January 16th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Does this imply the US killed this many and that’s the goal?
January 16th, 2007 at 11:19 am
But I thought Gen Petreaus was a miracle worker! You mean he might be Willy Westmoreland redux?
January 16th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
And the UN estimate is probably an understatement, if you believe the Lancet study. (Which I do, at least statistically — I don’t believe in hard numbers on this issue.)
“Does this imply the US killed this many ….”
Oh please. What part of “civil war” (not to mention “corrupt and feeble police force”) didn’t you understand?
” …. and that’s the goal?”
Why would it be the goal?
“40% of Iraqi middle-class believed to have fled crumbling nation.â€
Sad. Iraq is becoming our Palestine, where it isn’t already our Lebanon. We’re managing to flush out precisely the kind of people who could save Iraq from itself. How nice to have even more in common with Israel.
January 17th, 2007 at 2:03 am
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi’s displaced or dead, and Bush wants to “SURGE” more troops into, bagdad, in what Condi Rice wants to refer to as an “AUGMENTATION”. ( does Condi have plastic surgery on her mind?)
Condi rice can refer to the 21,500 troops putting their lives in danger as an “Augmentation”!!!! And all the right wants to bloviate about is Boxer’s coment about how she and Rice will not be as effected!! Absurd! Trivial!! Here we go again, the madison avenue style sell the war ( and a new one with Iran ), and blame the Democrats. This is the begining, they have the Corporate media machine to shove whatever twisted spin on events they want, real or imaginery.
At least we have the internet, and word of mouth.
I have a pen and pencil, so I draw progressive cartoons in an attempt to share the progressive side of political cartooning that has very few outlets.
(the right side has many) Check out my Condi, Augmentation cartoon at my website…
http://www.whatnowtoons.com
January 17th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
“The good news: this isn’t civil war”.
No it isn’t. A civil war generally involves clearly definable battle lines, few primary actors, and definitive regions of control.
Iraq has all of the conditions necessary for civil war, but none of the principal actors can gather enough support to make it a reality.
What is happening in Iraq is called ‘low intensity conflict’. It could go on for decades. It will, no matter what the US does now. Iraq will become a proxy fight between growing Iranian (Shia) influence and the spineless (Sunni) governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Little Bush wanted a Great War to mark his Presidency. Even his father knew during the Gulf War (as tanks were racing across the desert) that topppling Saddam wouldn’t be a good idea, and told his army to stop at the magical 100 hours. But Little Bush has to show that he is not pappy’s boy, and now his Presidency will always be marked with an asterix.
What a way to leave a mark.
Little side note: 3000+ US soldiers have been killed in Iraq. Does anyone know that there are 20,000+ additional soldiers who are considered casualties? A casualty can live for decades completely paralyzed, or with no arms and legs, or with massive brain trauma and never recognize their own children.
Bush should have finished Afghanistan completely before choosing to engage everyone else. America had HUGE support for that one, but then seemingly forgot all about it, except as a few footnotes in situational briefing reports from CENTCOM.
Stabilizing Afghanistan, then providing support to President Musharrif to stabilize Pakistan’s west Provinces would have made the world a better place.
Dismantling a brutal but effectively stable regime went completely against the character of US Foreign Policy for the last 100 years, but the full fruits of that deviation won’t be known for some time (the next, or the next after Presidency).
Bush is no friend of true Conservatism.
January 17th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
All these conservatives suddenly discovering how reckless and foolish the Decider-In-Chief is. MY! MY! Where were they in 2004 when it was obvious that this clown was in over his head?
January 17th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
“Stabilizing Afghanistan, then providing support to President Musharrif to stabilize Pakistan’s west Provinces would have made the world a better place…Bush is no friend of true Conservatism.”
But they didn’t…and conservatives – “true” ones, so far as I can tell – overwhelmingly followed Bush like lemmings in support of the current Iraq disaster. I don’t know what the kids at the Corner are if they’re not “true conservatives”. I enjoy the Buchanan conservatives taking shots at Bush, but the reality is that Pat broke rather sharply with contemporary mainstream conservatism – which has been in love with imperial power ever since Taft left town with little more than his dog in tow.
“True conservatism” is about as relevant in the wake of the actually existing Conservative Ascendency of the past three decades as Trotsky’s minions were in bemoaning his plight and touting “true Communism”. Nobody will much care.
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