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We Won?
StategyPage.com ^ | 06-23-07

Posted on 06/23/2007 1:11:01 PM PDT by MNJohnnie

June 20, 2007: After weeks of maneuvering in and around Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi forces have isolated and cornered large numbers of terrorists in Diyala province (northeast of Baghdad), and especially in the provincial capital, Baqouba. This is a major operation, with 9,000 Americans and a thousand Iraqi troops (and police) involved. In addition, there are several hundred local irregulars, who have switched sides. This is a big change in the Baghdad suburbs. While tribal leaders and warlords in the west (Anbar province) have been turning on terrorist groups, especially al Qaeda, for several years, the gangs of Baghdad were more resistant to changing sides. That's because Baghdad is the home of Saddam's staunchest supporters. These guys are prime candidates for war crimes prosecutions, for the many atrocities committed by Saddams' secret police over the decades. While the government has been willing to offer amnesty to many lower ranking Baath party members, the Baghdad neighborhoods and suburbs are full of people considered too dirty to qualify. This is the no-surrender crowd. But let's face it, these guys are also all over the lists Shia death squads carry. Iran has even offered cash rewards for the deaths of many Saddam lieutenants who were involved in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, or subsequent murders of Shia clergy. The Kurds have their death lists as well. These are desperate and dangerous people.

Years of collecting data on the bad guys has paid off as well. Month by month, the picture of the enemy became clearer. This was literally the case, with some of the intelligence software that created visual representations of what was known of the enemy, and how reliable it was. The picture is clear enough to maneuver key enemy factions into positions that make them easier to run down. Saddam's henchmen were no dummies. They were smart enough, and resourceful enough, to build a police state apparatus that kept Saddam in power for over three decades. For the last three years, that talent has been applied to keeping the henchmen alive and out of jail. Three years of fighting has reduced the original 100,000 or so core Saddam thugs, to a few thousand diehards. Three years ago, there were hundreds of thousands of allies and supporters from the Sunni minority (then, about five million people, now, less than half that), who wanted to be back in charge. Now the remaining Sunni Arabs just want to be left in peace. Thus the Sunni nationalists of Baqouba are shooting at, and turning in, their old allies from Saddams Baath party and secret police. This isn't easy for some of these guys, but it's seen as a matter of survival. While the Battle of Baqouba is officially about rooting out al Qaeda, and hard core terrorists, it's also about taking down the Baath party bankers and organizers who have been sustaining the bombers with cash, information and encouragement.

Both the terrorists and U.S. troops know that victory has been defined as several weeks with no bombs going off in Baghdad. The media is keeping score, and they use their ears and video cameras. No loud bangs and no bodies equals no news. That's victory.

Not really. The real war is within the Iraqi government. The terrorists lost two years ago, when the relentless slaughter of Moslem civilians turned the Arab world against al Qaeda. Journalists missed that one, but not the historians. The war in Iraq has always been about Arabs demonstrating that they can run a clean government, for the benefit of all the people, not just the tyrants on top. So far, there have lots of victories and defeats in this, and no clear decision overall. Elections have been held several times, but the people elected have proved to be as corrupt and venal as their tyrannical predecessors. Everyone admits that this bad behavior is not a good thing, but attempts to stop it have been only partially successful. Changing thousands of years of custom and tradition is not easy. The clay tablets dug up in the vicinity of Baghdad, reveal similar scandal and despair over four thousand years ago. Most Iraqis realize, however, that if the chain of corruption is not broken, the dreary past will again become a painful present.


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: goodnews; iraq; postwariraq; supporthetroops; wot
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Well I don't know about that but there are some hopeful signs.
1 posted on 06/23/2007 1:11:04 PM PDT by MNJohnnie
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To: MNJohnnie

Since the MSM won’t be reporting this good news, it is up to us to spread the word via the Internet.


2 posted on 06/23/2007 1:15:00 PM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
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To: MNJohnnie

The New York Slimes are deeply saddened.


3 posted on 06/23/2007 1:16:35 PM PDT by alice_in_bubbaland (I will respect illegal aliens civil rights, when they respect the sovereignty of the US!)
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To: MNJohnnie
The clay tablets dug up in the vicinity of Baghdad, reveal similar scandal and despair over four thousand years ago.

Huh???

4 posted on 06/23/2007 1:18:35 PM PDT by Allegra (Socks.)
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To: MNJohnnie

I genuinly enjoyed reading this. I really adds things up and puts them in perspective.
I can smell the diehard Baathist butchers running away from their past and murdering desperately to escape justice, which will be delivered either by the hands of the US Armed Forces, the Iraqi Government or the vendetta of the Kurds and Shia militias.
They remind me of the remaining diehard nucleus of Nazi SS Officers who fought and killed ‘til the last second, and even afterwards, to escape their certain justice, choosing suicide before surrender.


5 posted on 06/23/2007 1:20:58 PM PDT by SolidWood (UN delenda est.)
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To: MNJohnnie; SJackson; Alouette; ExTexasRedhead; SandRat; river rat; Salem; ApplegateRanch; ...

Didn’t something like this happen during the Tet offensive in 1968? That is, the U.S. armed forces won a great victory and the MSM convinced the American public that it was a defeat.


6 posted on 06/23/2007 1:21:01 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued (Open borders and outsourcing are opposite sides of the same coin)
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To: MNJohnnie
In six to nine months from now the whole world will realize that America won the war and that Al Qaeda, Iran, Syria and all their terrorist proxies were utterly defeated in Iraq.

In the last six weeks the most important turning point of the war since the fall of Saddam has been taking place. The general rebellion of the Sunni Arabs against Al Qaeda terrorists has deprived Al Qaeda from their most important line of defense which "was" the support and shelter provided by the Sunni Arabs. Because of this Al Qaeda terrorists fate has been sealed they will either surrender to our troops or be annihilated by our troops.

God bless our troops.

7 posted on 06/23/2007 1:24:41 PM PDT by jveritas (Support the Commander in Chief in Times of War.)
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To: Clintonfatigued

When the violence will be reduced by 70 to 80% in the next six months even the treasonous liberal media cannot hide this fact that America won, they will try but they will fail.


8 posted on 06/23/2007 1:26:16 PM PDT by jveritas (Support the Commander in Chief in Times of War.)
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To: MNJohnnie
But let's face it, these guys are also all over the lists Shia death squads carry. Iran has even offered cash rewards for the deaths of many Saddam lieutenants who were involved in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, or subsequent murders of Shia clergy. The Kurds have their death lists as well. These are desperate and dangerous people.

I believe this thug is still at large

9 posted on 06/23/2007 1:27:34 PM PDT by Donald Rumsfeld Fan (NY Times: "fake but accurate")
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To: Clintonfatigued

Yes North Vietnam got their arses handed to them in the Tet Offensive. It was basically a hail Mary play. They accomplished exactly ZERO of their goals. It would have been the first step of North Vietnam actually losing the war.

But the media and suits in Washington spun it that is was a great loss to us.

Kennedy called Iraq “George Bush’s Vietnam”, well guess what, the only reason it will be is because of the media and the suits in Washington, like Kennedy, Reid, and Pelosi.


10 posted on 06/23/2007 1:27:51 PM PDT by Domandred
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To: MNJohnnie
In addition, there are several hundred local irregulars, who have switched sides. This is a big change in the Baghdad suburbs.

I hope that remains permanent...loyalties switch in that area real quick.

11 posted on 06/23/2007 1:29:31 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat (I am SO glad to no longer be associated with the party of Dependence on Government!)
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To: Allegra

I think this a reference to the history of Akkad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkad


12 posted on 06/23/2007 1:32:09 PM PDT by SolidWood (UN delenda est.)
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To: Clintonfatigued

Yep. And Dan Rather was leading the media charge if I remember correctly.


13 posted on 06/23/2007 1:56:05 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: Domandred; ALOHA RONNIE

I’ve heard that.

The MSM has really misserved the American public. Hopefully, more Americans will turn to Alternative Media.


14 posted on 06/23/2007 2:00:43 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued (Open borders and outsourcing are opposite sides of the same coin)
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To: Donald Rumsfeld Fan

Col. Moustache has officially died about 3 times over though!


15 posted on 06/23/2007 2:30:38 PM PDT by omega4179 (El 43.o presidente de los Estados Unidos De Norteamérica Jorge W Bush)
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To: SandRat; Clintonfatigued
Yep. And Dan Rather was leading the media charge if I remember correctly.

The anchorman was Walter Cronkite. Rather may have been the reporter on the ground but it was Cronkite that LBJ referred to when commenting that if he had lost Cronkite, he had lost America.

16 posted on 06/23/2007 3:02:04 PM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: T-Bird45

So I remembered wrong.


17 posted on 06/23/2007 3:07:16 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: All; Clintonfatigued

.

After our winning every battle of the Vietnam War, America’s Media fooled us into withdrawing from the field of battle.

A post-WATERGATE Democrat Congress then cut-off all our funding for a still Free South Vietnam to fight for its own Freedom with.

This when the Communist Soviet Union, per KGB Files, had given $6 billion in tanks and mobile artillery pieces to the North
...for its ‘Final Solution’ in the South.

Which came in just 55 Days.

.

Resulting in:

Pictures of a vietnamese Re-Educatiion (SLAVE LABOR) Camp

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308949/posts

.

NEVER AGAIN.

.

Signed:..”ALOHA RONNIE” Guyer
Veteran-”WE WERE SOLDIERS” Battle of IA DRANG-1965

http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_set1.htm

http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm

http://www.RickRescorla.com

http://www.RickRescorla.com/The%20Statue.htm

http://www.ArmchairGeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24361


18 posted on 06/23/2007 3:29:15 PM PDT by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: Donald Rumsfeld Fan
"I believe this thug is still at large"

Actually, he is in Syria.

19 posted on 06/23/2007 3:36:49 PM PDT by trek
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To: ALOHA RONNIE

It looks like the media is hoping that history repeats itself.


20 posted on 06/23/2007 4:22:01 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued (Open borders and outsourcing are opposite sides of the same coin)
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