I posted this on an earlier thread

It is apropos of this thread too:

"It may be the quiet before the storm I fear.

The opponents to the Coalition (the Shia) have essentially pulled out of Baghdad waiting for the surge to crest and then the demobilization to begin in earnest. Once the Forces have pulled out they will return with a vengence. Everyone sees the surge for what it is - phase one of a pull-out.

How do I know? Because this is exactly how it went down in Vietnam. Unfortunately the stakes are far far higher.

The only option seems increasingly to be to pull the forces north into a newfound pro-western Kurdistan and provide policing actions from that base.

What a mess..."

Yeah, Iraq's a complicated place, but ultimately the new government will have to keep order. This time it appears the Iraqi forces are indeed doing what they've been asked, unlike in the earlier operations.

It is hopeful, though it may not last.

And I'll give you the same response that I gave to you in that other thread: thank God you're not in charge of the military. About the only option worse than a complete pull out is a partial pull out to a "safe area". This is like saying that the Toronto police could do their job best if they operated out of Ottawa. It's ridiculous.

Operation “Imposing Law” continues in Baghdad.
I'm sorry, but they gotta be running out of mission names...

To Knight of Good Mr. Iron Man: They could go to the hurricane naming system - that's a lot of fun isn't it. Or they could do the Papal thing, ie, Imposing Law I, Imposing Law II, ... , Imposing Law XIV, etc. - there are lots of options there - so don't worry. I just hope they don't go for the license plate thing - it is just so impersonal.

It's hard to see what is really going on in Baghdad because the signal to noise ratio is pretty bad. Hopefully, articles like this will help reduce the noise.

Always attack those who fight against the loss of freedom, like the US, is the leftist, liberal mantra. I wonder how long it will take for history to show it was the British and US that started WW2. The choice seems pretty simple to me, living in freedom or dying in a gulag, but obviously not to our liberal elitists.

To listen to the media, you would think that there is a parallel between Iraq / Afghanistan and climate change. "The science is sound...AGW is real" and "Irag and Afghanistan are lost...its best to negotiate with the enemy".

Who knows, the naysayers may be ultimately right...but to sell out to defeatism and guilt so quickly is evidence of a lost society.

Coalition, Iraqi Troops Start Clearing Sadr City

American Forces Press Service ^
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2007 – More than 600 Multi-National Division Baghdad soldiers and 550 Iraqi security forces began a clearing operation in the eastern Baghdad district known as Sadr City today, military officials reported. Meanwhile, operations in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq over the last few days have resulted in numerous terrorists being killed or detained and the discovery of large weapons caches....-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1795109/posts

Witness what happens when our entire armed forces and somewhere around half of our population are sold a bill of goods by a band of theives about why were there in the first place. Remember, were there to rid the Iraqis of WMDs (or was prove to Dunya dad that he could do better), not to overthrow a ruthless dictator and rescue the downtrodden friends of America (that no one in America really even knew about or gave a rodents hind quarters about), unless someone wants to try to explain otherwise. Dubya and Rummy sure weren't too convincing. There's plenty more dictators to go, how about China next?

"It appears the surge is continuing to make progress in Baghdad."

Right. Things are going swimmingly.Not.