Gen. Webster: "Since the elections, the Iraqi insurgency is weaker..."

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N30231523.htm

<snip>

Since the elections, the Iraqi insurgency is weaker in terms of the types of attacks they're able to conduct, and the number of attacks is down since the elections," said Webster, due to return to the United States in the next month along with the 3rd Infantry Division after a yearlong stint.

Webster said the actual number of insurgent attacks has risen compared to a year ago, but the number of successful attacks has declined to 10 percent from 25 percent to 30 percent. Webster said the rate of U.S. casualties has not declined from a year ago.

...

Webster said Iraqi security forces are in charge of 60 percent of Baghdad "with support from us."

"I think until the government is seated and secure and the Iraqi security forces are relatively disciplined and fully trained that there will still be some chaos in the city. Many elements of the insurgency will benefit or attempt to benefit from this chaos because they think they're going to get ahead by conducting it," Webster said.

I'm getting dizzy...

[enlightenment]

1. So, if I'm reading this correctly,

the number of attacks have decreased, but are as successful -- i.e., fewer attacks, same number of casualties.
Soooo . . . seems to me that the insurgents are getting better at what they're doing, not worse -- fewer steps, same results.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[sabra]

2. indeed. :-(

[tridim]

4. Problem is, you're reading it..

You're just supposed to react to the headline, which implies everything is peachy in Iraq.

[enlightenment]

5. Damn. Knew I was doing something wrong . . .

using that higher education and all.
:evilgrin:
We need a "had it up to here" smilie . . . and "another shovelful of sh*t" smilie . . . and a "done drank the koolaid" smilie . . .

and I need to go take a walk, obviously!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. "There are lies; damned lies; and statistics." Mark Twain

aka: Perfumed Bullshit.

[BrotherBuzz]

6. Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.

Mark Twain

[Joe for Clark]

7. Well, if he is right we should withdraw 60% of our boys now.

[SoCalDem]

8. Saying it makes it so.. The new motto..n/t

[LunaC]

9. Bullshit!

Bombs, protests as Iraq election mood sours

Violence regained in intensity after a lull in attacks earlier this month during elections. 10 members of the security forces have been killed yesterday.

Guerrillas killed 10 members of the Iraqi security forces in separate attacks north of Baghdad yesterday and at least five Iraqis and a US soldier died in violence in Iraq on Sunday -as fresh street protests over election results kept up tension that has soured the mood after a peaceful ballot 10 days ago.

Violence in Iraq has surged in the past few days after a pause in attacks earlier this month during parliamentary elections, partly due to an informal truce by some Sunni Arab insurgent groups and strict security measures at the time.

http://www.lexpress.mu/display_article_sup.php?news_id=56701


And it's only going to get worse as the Kurds gain power and the Sunnis fall from grace. Civil war brews beneath the surface.


Iraqi vote shows lack of Sunnis in army

BAGHDAD - Voting results of Iraqi military and police forces from the Dec. 15 parliamentary election were made public on Monday and indicate that Iraq's security forces, touted as largely representative of the population, in fact have few Sunnis in their ranks.

This is significant because Sunni Arabs, who make up 20 percent of Iraq, came out in large numbers for the election in hopes of taking a share of political power along with the Shiites and Kurds.

Sunnis say they fear that the security forces will be used against them.

While it has been known that Sunnis were underrepresented among the new police and military, the voting data provide the first real indication of the complete reversal of the fortunes of the Sunnis, who ran those forces under the ousted Saddam Hussein. Voting in Iraq has been nearly exclusively along ethnic and sectarian lines.

The newly released figures also suggest that Kurdish pesh merga militiamen have a disproportionate presence in the security forces, perhaps even more so than the Shiites, who comprise three-fifths of the population.

-snip-

After a relative peaceful respite following the Dec. 15 election, at least 70 Iraqis have been slain in the past four days, including 20 killed Monday. Five policeman died in an early morning ambush in Baquba, while a half-dozen car bombs in Baghdad killed at least five Iraqis. A rocket-propelled grenade also killed an American soldier on patrol in the capital.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/12/26/news/iraq.php

[xray s]

10. "Breaking News"... they have shut down Iraqi oil production

That's sounds like a pretty effective insurgency to me.