[Fertassa]

Meanwhile the political movement headed by radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has said it is ending a two-month boycott of Iraq's parliament and government. Watch Sadr become Mr. for the next few months. Yep, here's the surge, and he's o so nice. Then, when the surge is over and U.S. troops are drawn down, he looses his evil minions.

[escolubtessen]

I'd love to see the Mehdi Army rolled up once and for all.

[UnmariKam]

With Bush's rejection of the Iraq Study Group's proposal for a political solution, the U.S has three military options:

(1) Pull out & lose quick
(2) Maintain troops strength & lose slow
(3) Surge & lose big

[emuffette]

I'm sure you can enlist

[fhutiussk]

not appearing to gloat over war casualities

[mesZibeds]

Only if you can tell me what the mission was.

[Ekrbcbvh]

Ooh, I can play at that game as well!

Are you called Elok because you're a dickhead? See, isn't that fun!

No, you are right. All my threads end up where I get personally attacked and collapse in a slanging match...

All I am saying is that "The Surge" hasn't even begun and it's 'business as usual' in Iraq...

Frankly it amazes me how the US can tolerate a US president who when told doing something is a bad idea not only does it, but thinks that doing more of it is magically going to solve everything...

It is exasperating to watch...

[Zvmwissq]

All I am saying is that "The Surge" hasn't even begun and it's 'business as usual' in Iraq...

... duh?

[Rememavotscam]

As of 6:54 a.m.
• Bombs kill at least 78 people in Baghdad

[xanax-buy-online.com]

From my media consumption it seems like there's a popular opinion that more american troops equals more dead americans. That's an example of twister logic in my opinion. If more troops means better and more frequent patrols it might as well have the opposite effect - for a while at least.

[PriernPayorse]

Right, more troops mean better resources and ability to patrol and stabilize as much as possible.

Assume we had very few cops, so getting in more cops, it's not going to mean more crime. Not necessarily less crime either, but at least there's better chances to prevent one or two crimes. The role of the troops is to be a stabilizing force and also preventive. Well, it doesn't work, not enough people there, but still, adding some more is not going to rise the de facto deaths by default. It can have the opposite effect.

And when it comes to the army, the troops won't do politics. They do battle. Of course, it is in the hands of politicians to send them for the right cause, however, if you want to be a thinker and not do any battle, don't join the army. It is ALWAYS against someones morals, or an idea of a good cause. It's a choice you can make, if you don't want to fight, don't join the army. Pretty simple... and the 'ooh but the poor are forced to do the fighting', yeah, what ever, it's still a choice. If you figure the money is good enough to risk your life and do battle, it's still a choice someone made. Unlike in draft. You know, a thing we have. And if battle should ensue, we don't even get paid. And no, there's no choice either. And if you're poor, the military won't give you an option, in fact it'll make you poorer because you need to be able to support yourself during your service. So from this perspective, stop whining, it's a free choice, stick with it. If you want to be doing something else instead, well by all means don't let the military stop you.

[jessyhalm]

Originally posted by MOBIUS
Business as usual for Kuci as well it seems... He does indeed regularly point out your silliness. It's one of his few agreeable characteristics.

[sam]

It's not hard to figure out why so many bomb victims.
If you blow up an unsusprcting group of students outside their school, or a group of people leaving worship, dirty deed done. Mission accomplished.

But Mobius raves on.

[EzekelEnzino]

If you blow up a location that's crowded, it's not so unusual to have this type casualties. Let's don't leave out markets. Now those people certainly deserve to be blown up, don't they?

[tearidrusydet]

Yeah, it's not impossible, or unusual today. I still think death tolls like this requires skill, it is definitely not easy to kill so many people with one bomb. And they seem to be doing it outdoors at times too, so it's difficult to kill many people outside with a bomb. Nasty business. Nasty folks too.

I mean, they're killing their own people, that's the bottom line. I understand the logic behind scaring locals to gain control of the areas and have intel, but well, this is mostly just killing as much people as possible, not gathering intel or making it difficult for the enemy to have support. I bet they just want to kill them, period. Maybe they aren't radical enough, so they are fair game.

[Effopsytupt]

Originally posted by DanS
I'd love to see the Mehdi Army rolled up once and for all. The Mehdi Army is a lot like the VC. They will be just as hard to root out as the VC.

[WFSdZuP3]

Why should I view this thread in a vacuum rather than in the context of his entire history?

[inmeirulez]

Originally posted by DanS
As far as I know, our intelligence against them is still much better than clueless.

Always good to have better than clueless intelligence

[Andrew1978]

"Firmly in the back pocket of Tehran," eh? If by that you mean "a total scrambled mess," then I agree. The Sunnis aren't so insignificant that they'll give up without overwhelming force against them, which Maliki can't project effectively when his regime is enforced by a patchwork of militias answering to petty warlords instead of him. The neighboring countries are mostly Sunni, except for Iran, and will likely funnel clandestine aid at the very least. And the Kurds aren't going to stay aligned with the resulting pile of crap for long, which means trouble with Turkey.

Even in the extremely unlikely event that Maliki (or someone else) takes control with no problems, it's still going to take several years to fix the mess we made--and it won't be cheap, either.

[VonErmad4]

The Mehdi Army is a lot like the VC. They will be just as hard to root out as the VC. Yep. It's a social force, rather than a mere militia. That's why it was able to reconstitute itself after dissolving in the fall of 2004. And of course, that's one of the problems with the idea of a temporary surge.