Other Wars: Iraq

rimrocker · Jul 27, 2006

By the way, we're sending more troops to Iraq... not to battle terrorists and not to spread democracy, but to stop a civil war...

A Whole New War

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, July 26, 2006; 12:56 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/07/26/BL2006072600903_pf.html

President Bush and national security adviser Stephen Hadley yesterday for the first time publicly acknowledged the momentous shift in the role for U.S. troops in Iraq, from fighting terrorists to trying to suppress religious violence.

This sea change was described in such understated terms that it was eclipsed by news about the crisis in Lebanon. Bush described a change in tactics; Hadley called it a repositioning.

But it's a historic admission: That job one for many American troops in Iraq is no longer fighting al-Qaeda terrorists, or even insurgents. Rather, it is trying to quell an incipient -- if not already raging -- sectarian civil war, with Baghdad as ground zero.

Arguably, that's been the case for quite a while. But having the White House own up to it is a very big deal.

As things stand now, an overwhelming majority of the American public no longer supports Bush's handling of the war, which they think was a mistake in the first place. A majority wants American troops to start coming home soon. What unqualified support there is for the war seems to come from people who believe it is central front in the war on terror.

But how will people feel about our troops being sent into the crossfire between rival Muslim sects? That is not the war anyone signed up to fight.

Here's the transcript of Bush's short press availability with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"Obviously, the violence in Baghdad is still terrible," Bush said. "And, therefore, there needs to be more troops. In other words, the commanders said, what more can we do; how best to address the conditions on the ground. And they have recommended, as a result of working with the Prime Minister, based upon his recommendation, that we increase the number of U.S. troops in Baghdad, alongside of Iraqi troops. And we're going to do that."

A few hours later, in a press briefing , Hadley explained what Bush was talking about:

"Obviously, with the bombing in February of the Golden Mosque, that, in some sense, was a critical event, and it has touched off greater sectarian violence than we had seen before. And that's what is troublesome. . . .

"You've now seen the emergence of death squads and armed groups on right and left, and they're doing great damage to the civilian population. That's really what is new. It's something that we've seen occur since February, and it is a new challenge. This isn't about insurgency, this isn't about terror, this is about sectarian violence."

As it happens, the least understated acknowledgment of this historic change yesterday came from Maliki. Asked about comments by Army Gen. John P. Abizaid in a New York Times story last week, that escalating sectarian violence in Baghdad had become a greater worry than the insurgency, Maliki replied: "The most important element in the security plan is to curb the religious violence. . . . And, God willing, there will be no civil war in Iraq."

The Coverage

Peter Baker and Josh White write in The Washington Post: "President Bush said yesterday that he will send more U.S. forces and equipment to Baghdad as part of a fresh strategy to put down rising sectarian violence, abandoning a six-week-old operation that failed to pacify the strife-torn Iraqi capital and opening what aides called an unexpected new phase of the war.

"Playing host to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at the White House for the first time, Bush sounded unusually dour and acknowledged that the situation in Iraq in many ways has worsened lately. But he vowed to adjust tactics to deal with evolving threats and to keep U.S. forces in Iraq as long as necessary to fortify Maliki's government until it can defend itself.

"The additional U.S. forces for Baghdad, which could total in the thousands, would come from elsewhere in Iraq, but the deteriorating security situation seemed to all but doom the prospect for significant troop withdrawals before the November congressional elections. . . .

"The Bush administration is trying to respond to the shifting nature of the war. Where once U.S. forces were focused primarily on anti-U.S. foreign fighters and Sunni insurgents, today they confront a more complicated situation in which de facto militias are targeting Iraqis, in some cases aided by Iraqi police forces commanded by the Shiite-led Interior Ministry."

Jim Rutenberg writes in the New York Times: "The announcement followed the White House's acknowledgment last week that a security plan Mr. Maliki announced in June had failed to produce the desired results. . . .

"Mr. Hadley, the national security adviser, said the failure of the initial plan forced the administration to move to what he called 'Phase II.'

"But other officials said there was no Phase II in the previous plan.

" 'This is more like Plan B,' said one of Mr. Hadley's associates, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss internal policy matters. 'Six weeks ago, we were talking about pulling American troops back from the city streets, not putting more of them out there.' "
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rimrocker · Jul 27, 2006

Miserable Failure...

Iraq - Security

Approximate number of U.S. troops currently in Iraq: 126,900

Percent of coalition forces contributed by the U.S.: 86

Approximate amount appropriated by Congress for Iraq operations so far (including funding authorized by the Fiscal Year 2006 Emergency Supplemental): $320 billion

Approximate amount spent by the U.S. in World War I (in inflation-adjusted dollars): $205 billion

Approximate amount the U.S. is spending in Iraq per month in Fiscal Year 2006 (including operational and investment costs): $8.1 billion

Approximate amount the U.S. spent in Iraq per month in Fiscal Year 2003 (including operational and investment costs): $4.4 billion

Number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq: 2,547

Number reported wounded by the Defense Department: 18,988

Number of National Guard soldiers killed in Iraq through July 1, 2006: 364

Number of National Guard soldiers killed in the entire Vietnam War: 97

Number of Iraqi military and police killed since training began (June 2003): 4,898

Number of journalists killed in Iraq: 74

Number of journalists killed in Vietnam: 63

Estimated number of insurgents in Iraq (November 2003): 5,000

Estimated number of insurgents in Iraq (June 2006): 20,000 +

Estimated number of foreign fighters in Iraq in May 2003: 100

Estimated number of foreign fighters in Iraq in May 2006: 1,500

Number of civilian casualties in Iraq since U.S.-led invasion: 20,600 – 37,200

Estimated number of 88 Iraqi military battalions that are capable of operating independently: 0

Number of multi-fatality bombings in June 2004: 9

Number of multi-fatality bombings in June 2006: 57

Average number of daily attacks by insurgents in June 2004: 45

Average number of daily attacks by insurgents in June 2006: 90

Iraq – Political

Amount requested by the President in his Fiscal Year 2007 budget for democracy promotion in Iraq: 0

Percent of Iraqis who say they are optimistic about their future: 30 percent

According to a recent World Public Opinion poll, percent of Iraqis who approve of a timeline for U.S. withdrawal: 70 percent

Degree of corruption in Iraq on the Transparency International 2005 Corruption Perceptions Index (on a scale of 0-10, with 0 representing “highly corrupt” and 10 representing “highly clean”): 2.2

Number of corruption cases that have been filed since the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity was established in 2004: 1,400

Approximate number of Iraqi families internally displaced as of February 2006 (prior to February 22 bombing of Shiite shrine in Samarra): 3,000

Approximate number of Iraqi families internally displaced as of June 2006, according to Iraq’s Ministry of Displacement and Migration: 21,731 or 130,386 people

Number of Iraqi civilians killed in May, according to data from the Iraqi Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue: 2,669

Number of Iraqi civilians killed in June, according to data from the Iraqi Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue: 3,149

Civilian death toll in Iraq in June 2006: 100 per day

Rank of Iraq in Minority Rights Group International’s list of peoples most under threat from persecution, discrimination, and mass killing: 1

The number of passports issued in the past ten months, according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees: 2 million

Percent of Iraq’s professional class that has left the country since late 2003: 40 percent

Iraq - Reconstruction

Amount of the $13.5 billion pledged by the international community for Iraq’s reconstruction that has been dispersed (as of March 2006): $3.5 billion

Amount of taxpayer money spent by Halliburton that the Defense Contract Audit Agency has deemed either excessive or insufficiently documented: 1.47 billion

Amount of Iraqi reconstruction funds the military has failed to account for (according to the Defense Department’s inspector general): $8.8 billion

Amount, of the $20.9 billion appropriated for the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF), that the U.S. has spent as of July 2006: $14.9 billion

Percent of Iraq reconstruction funds used for security: 25

Number of days before all funding will be obligated and no new work orders will be allowed under the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund: 71

Anticipated reconstruction gap (difference between estimates of what is needed to rebuild and what the international community has pledged in aid) that the new Iraqi government will face: $18-28 billion

Percent decline in Iraq’s GDP in 2005: 3

Average oil output for 2006 (barrels per day): 2.0 million

Average oil output prior to invasion (barrels per day): 2.5 million

Bush Administration’s prewar projections of Iraq’s post-war oil output (barrels per day): 3 million

Average oil output for 2005 (barrels per day): 1.83 million

Iraq’s lost oil revenues in 2005: $6.25 billion

Percent of Iraq’s economy represented by oil revenues: 94

Amount U.S. taxpayers have invested in Iraq’s oil industry reconstruction: $2 billion

Approximate number of guards who actually were trained in protecting Iraq’s oil equipment, of the 21,000 originally targeted: 11,000

Electricity capacity in Iraq (in megawatts) prior to invasion (March 2003): 4,500

Electricity capacity in Iraq (in megawatts) in July 2006: 4,200

Approximate amount U.S. taxpayers have invested in Iraq’s electricity sector: $5 billion

Percent of Iraqis who had access to sewer service prior to invasion: 24

Percent of Iraqis who had access to sewer service in February 2006: 20

Number of Iraqis who had access to potable water before invasion: 13 million

Number of Iraqis who have access to potable water, according to the April 2006 SIGIR report: 8 million

Number of the planned 142 health care clinics that actually will be completed under the Army Corps of Engineers $243 million program: 20

Number of the planned 136 sanitation and water projects that will be completed: 49

Number of Iraqi physicians registered prior to the invasion: 34,000

Number of Iraqi physicians who have been murdered or fled the country since the invasion: 14,000

Infant mortality rate in Iraq: (Middle East average is 37, sub-Saharan Africa average is 105): 102

Terrorism

Days since September 11, 2001 that Osama bin Laden has remained uncaptured: 1,772

Days after bombing Pearl Harbor that Japan surrendered to U.S. forces: 1,365

Number of significant global terrorist attacks reported by the State Department in 2003: 175

Total number of worldwide global terrorist attacks reported by the U.S. Government’s National Counterterrorism Center in 2004: 3,194

Total number of worldwide global terrorist attacks reported by the U.S. Government’s National Counterterrorism Center in 2005: 11,111

Percentage of total worldwide suicide attacks that have occurred since 9/11: 81 percent

Percent of more than 100 of America’s top foreign policy experts (bipartisan group) who say the U.S. is not winning the war on terror: 84 percent

Percent of those experts who believe that Bush Administration policies are undermining the war on terror: 81 percent

Rank of Iraq on the “failed states” index: 4

Rank of Afghanistan on the “failed states” index: 10

Rank of Iraq among all nations as a training ground for terrorists: 1

Percent of top FBI jobs in the Washington area that currently are vacant (including counter-terrorism experts): 20

Percentage of respondents in a recent Financial Times/Harris poll conducted in Spain, the UK, France, Germany, and Italy who identified the U.S. as the greatest threat to global stability: 36 percent

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Rank of the danger of terrorists gaining access to WMD as a threat to U.S. national security according to the Bush Administration: 1

Number of discovered cases of potential illicit smuggling of nuclear or radiological material out of the former Soviet Union in 2004: 200

Percent of former Soviet nuclear material stockpiles secured under Nunn-Lugar counterproliferation programs: 29

Of the $20 billion the G-8 pledged to raise between 2002 and 2012 to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear materials, amount that actually has been donated: 3.5 billion

Percent of security upgrades completed on former Soviet buildings containing nuclear material: 54

Year loose Russian nuclear materials would be secured if recommendations of the bipartisan Baker-Cutler task force (Jan. 2001) were adopted: 2010

Year loose Russian nuclear materials will be secured under Bush Administration policies according to the National Nuclear Security Agency: 2020

Percent decrease in funding for the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program under the Presidents Fiscal Year 2007 budget: 10.4

Approximate number of the world’s 130 civilian nuclear reactors that are vulnerable to terrorist theft, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration: 47

http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-new.cfm?doc_name=fs-109-2-112
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FranchiseBlade · Jul 27, 2006

Horrible. What a mess. It was a bad idea, and then it was so poorly carried out that it baffles the mind. On top of it remember that the architects of this grand failure have been kept around, and promoted, while those that forwarned of the dangers were publically ridiculed, and run out.

Saint Louis · Jul 27, 2006

FranchiseBlade said:

Horrible. What a mess. It was a bad idea, and then it was so poorly carried out that it baffles the mind. On top of it remember that the architects of this grand failure have been kept around, and promoted, while those that forwarned of the dangers were publically ridiculed, and run out.
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There is a war in Iraq. I'm sorry, my simple American brain can only follow so many wars at once. During the last five minutes I have been watching the carnage in Lebanon. Why is there a war in Iraq again? Oh yes I remember now, the U.S. started it.

weslinder · Jul 27, 2006

rimrocker said:

By the way, we're sending more troops to Iraq... not to battle terrorists and not to spread democracy, but to stop a civil war...
Click to expand...

We're not sending more troops to Iraq. We're just bringing a lot that are outside Baghdad into Baghdad.

RocketMan Tex · Jul 27, 2006

weslinder said:

We're not sending more troops to Iraq. We're just bringing a lot that are outside Baghdad into Baghdad.
Click to expand...

So we're redeploying.

I guess John Murtha was right after all.

glynch · Jul 27, 2006

weslinder said:

We're not sending more troops to Iraq. We're just bringing a lot that are outside Baghdad into Baghdad.
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This means that in Fallujah and the rest of the Suni heartland they will be getting stronger. It is finally the beginning of the end. However, it is not the US that is winning. Of course the resistance will be there 10 years from now. They live there unlike foreign fighters from the United States.

Oh well I guess we will hang on killing and being killed till Bush is out of office. He thinks he can proclaim victory and that makes it so.

jo mama · Jul 27, 2006

weslinder said:

We're not sending more troops to Iraq. We're just bringing a lot that are outside Baghdad into Baghdad.
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outside of baghdad and outside of iraq. there are troops stationed in kuwait being brought into baghdad.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-5972347,00.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060725/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq

rimrocker · Jul 27, 2006

Alright! We finally have enough moisture in AZ, so I'm out of here and headed to CA tomorrow... a little fire near Mt Shasta. It's damn fine country and would be perfect if not for the preponderance of poison oak. The big issue with this fire is the regional power line bringing electricity from the NW to CA seems to be in the path and for some reason, folks would like the fire stopped before the lines have to be shut down.

Still, a few days in the woods (assuming Shasta or Lassen don't erupt) is what I need after watching the world implode over the last two weeks.

Carry on.

Deckard · Jul 27, 2006

rimrocker said:

Alright! We finally have enough moisture in AZ, so I'm out of here and headed to CA tomorrow... a little fire near Mt Shasta. It's damn fine country and would be perfect if not for the preponderance of poison oak. The big issue with this fire is the regional power line bringing electricity from the NW to CA seems to be in the path and for some reason, folks would like the fire stopped before the lines have to be shut down.

Still, a few days in the woods (assuming Shasta or Lassen don't erupt) is what I need after watching the world implode over the last two weeks.

Carry on.
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Stay safe, and I hope the world is a little more peaceful on your return.

(fat chance! )

Keep D&D Civil.

rimrocker · Jul 27, 2006

Thanks Deck.... change in orders though... we're going to the Black Hills of SD... leaving in about 15 minutes.

Deckard · Jul 27, 2006

rimrocker said:

Thanks Deck.... change in orders though... we're going to the Black Hills of SD... leaving in about 15 minutes.
Click to expand...

Just don't pull a Custer!

Keep D&D Civil.

R0ckets03 · Jul 27, 2006

Approximate amount appropriated by Congress for Iraq operations so far (including funding authorized by the Fiscal Year 2006 Emergency Supplemental): $320 billion

Imagine spending that amount on education. This world would be a much much better place.

tigermission1 · Jul 27, 2006

You don't try to occupy a country as large as Iraq and take on such an ambitious project 'on the cheap' (in terms of manpower, that is).

Remember that guy Colin Powell? He estimated roughly half-a-million American troops would be needed to occupy and rebuild Iraq. What does the idiotic and incompetent Rumsfeld say? "Oh no, we're going to implement my vision for a 21st century mobile force that moves quickly and doesn't require as many soldiers to get the job done. It will be my way or no way at all, screw the objectives! It's my time to shine!"

Powell warned them about the invasion, they didn't listen. Then, he said that we will have to be fully committed to this once we undertake it...but Rummy had his own ideas.

I blame Rumsfeld for this first and foremost, but I also blame the President for not being courageous enough to fully commit the necessary resources to this mission and not being willing to take the 'political hit' for doing that. But mostly, I blame him for not dismissing Rumsfeld for being a complete and utter failure.

glynch · Jul 28, 2006

tigermission1 said:

You don't try to occupy a country as large as Iraq and take on such an ambitious project 'on the cheap' (in terms of manpower, that is).

Remember that guy Colin Powell? He estimated roughly half-a-million American troops would be needed to occupy and rebuild Iraq. What does the idiotic and incompetent Rumsfeld say? "Oh no, we're going to implement my vision for a 21st century mobile force that moves quickly and doesn't require as many soldiers to get the job done. It will be my way or no way at all, screw the objectives! It's my time to shine!"

Powell warned them about the invasion, they didn't listen. Then, he said that we will have to be fully committed to this once we undertake it...but Rummy had his own ideas.

I blame Rumsfeld for this first and foremost, but I also blame the President for not being courageous enough to fully commit the necessary resources to this mission and not being willing to take the 'political hit' for doing that. But mostly, I blame him for not dismissing Rumsfeld for being a complete and utter failure.
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It was doomed from the start. Crap in crap out. No point in pretending it could have been a splendid little war if not for Dubya's or Rumsfeld's incompetence. Imperialism is a failed strategy.. Another in the line of Rome, Napoleon, the British Raj, Hitler etc. Eventually the empire burns itself out by over expanding.

mc mark · Jul 28, 2006

glynch said:

It was doomed from the start. Crap in crap out. No point in pretending it could have been a splendid little war if not for Dubya's or Rumsfeld's incompetence. Imperialism is a failed strategy.. Another in the line of Rome, Napoleon, the British Raj, Hitler etc. Eventually the empire burns itself out by over expanding.
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Rocket River · Jul 28, 2006

R0ckets03 said:

Approximate amount appropriated by Congress for Iraq operations so far (including funding authorized by the Fiscal Year 2006 Emergency Supplemental): $320 billion

Imagine spending that amount on education. This world would be a much much better place.
Click to expand...

on americans??? Are you crazy?
They should bootstrap it up the educational latter
no hand outs!!1

GGGRRRRRR

Rocket River

DaDakota · Jul 28, 2006

Where are all the neocons now?

The Iraq war was a complete and utter failure.......we took a guy down, which could have been done covertly, and we took a secular country closer to a theocratic government.

AWESOME JOB GW......

DD

Saint Louis · Jul 28, 2006

rimrocker said:

Thanks Deck.... change in orders though... we're going to the Black Hills of SD... leaving in about 15 minutes.
Click to expand...

Forest fires in SD? What is the world coming to?

Overcast, 72 degrees and 80% humidity in Tucson. What is the world coming to?

As far as California goes, they seem to always have something wrong going on there.

By the way, nice job by the firefighters in Oak Creek Canyon, AZ. I drove through there for the first time last weekend. After seeing what happened to Summerhaven, they did a great job.

Saint Louis · Jul 28, 2006

DaDakota said:

Where are all the neocons now?

The Iraq war was a complete and utter failure.......we took a guy down, which could have been done covertly, and we took a secular country closer to a theocratic government.

AWESOME JOB GW......

DD
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Since he is already president, I guess he can't be promoted any higher. Unless of course he promotes himself to emperor.

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