ThirtyDays
October 3, 2004 6:37 PM Subscribe
Iraq Attacks - 30 days worth plotted on a map. The gyre is widening [via waxy]
[this is good; and scary; and sobering]
This picture is worth thousands and thousands and thousands of words.
Sadly it represents death and destruction and the folly of man.
posted by gen at 7:46 PM on October 3, 2004
This picture is worth thousands and thousands and thousands of words.
Sadly it represents death and destruction and the folly of man.
posted by gen at 7:46 PM on October 3, 2004
Violence in Iraq Belies Claims of Calm, Data Show
Attacks over the past two weeks have killed more than 250 Iraqis and 29 U.S. military personnel, according to figures released by Iraq's Health Ministry and the Pentagon. A sampling of daily reports produced during that period by Kroll Security International for the U.S. Agency for International Development shows that such attacks typically number about 70 each day. In contrast, 40 to 50 hostile incidents occurred daily during the weeks preceding the handover of political authority to an interim Iraqi government on June 28, according to military officials.
Reports covering seven days in a recent 10-day period depict a nation racked by all manner of insurgent violence, from complex ambushes involving 30 guerrillas north of Baghdad on Monday to children tossing molotov cocktails at a U.S. Army patrol in the capital's Sadr City slum on Wednesday. On maps included in the reports, red circles denoting attacks surround nearly every major city in central, western and northern Iraq, except for Kurdish-controlled areas in the far north. Cities in the Shiite Muslim-dominated south, including several that had undergone a period of relative calm in recent months, also have been hit with near-daily attacks.
In number and scope, the attacks compiled in the Kroll reports suggest a broad and intensifying campaign of insurgent violence that contrasts sharply with assessments by Bush administration officials and Iraq's interim prime minister that the instability is contained to small pockets of the country.
Iraq insurgency outpaces coalition attempts to restore peace
The insurgency in Iraq appears to be more widespread and deadly than Iraqi leaders are prepared to admit, according to military officers and a report by a private security company, Special Operations Consulting-Security Management Group. The company says there have been been 2,300 attacks in the past 30 days, stretching from Mosul in the north through the Sunni heartland west of Baghdad and central Shia towns around Babylon down to Basra in the south. The weapons ranged from car and time bombs to rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, gunfire, mortars and landmines. They averaged 80 a day.
Intel Dump: Major combat operations resume
So why does it matter that we're back at war? Well, if you're the type who likes to keep score, it matters. If you're going to judge this president on his wartime record, it matters. This administration, though a series of major miscalculations, has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Our best hope in Iraq is to leave some sort of lasting democratic government there and to set up the Iraqis as best we can to manage their own security mess. But hope is not a method, and this will be a gamble. Nonetheless, I do not see any way for the U.S. to impose order on Iraq, short of committing 2-4 times as many troops as we have there now and imposing absolute U.S.-controlled martial law on the country. And even then, we would continue to bleed slowly from IED attacks and ambushes on a regular basis. There aren't a lot of good options out there--just varying degrees of bad ones. The tough part is picking the least bad option that will not lead to a failed state of Iraq that we must come back to again in 5 or 10 years.
posted by y2karl at 7:58 PM on October 3, 2004
Attacks over the past two weeks have killed more than 250 Iraqis and 29 U.S. military personnel, according to figures released by Iraq's Health Ministry and the Pentagon. A sampling of daily reports produced during that period by Kroll Security International for the U.S. Agency for International Development shows that such attacks typically number about 70 each day. In contrast, 40 to 50 hostile incidents occurred daily during the weeks preceding the handover of political authority to an interim Iraqi government on June 28, according to military officials.
Reports covering seven days in a recent 10-day period depict a nation racked by all manner of insurgent violence, from complex ambushes involving 30 guerrillas north of Baghdad on Monday to children tossing molotov cocktails at a U.S. Army patrol in the capital's Sadr City slum on Wednesday. On maps included in the reports, red circles denoting attacks surround nearly every major city in central, western and northern Iraq, except for Kurdish-controlled areas in the far north. Cities in the Shiite Muslim-dominated south, including several that had undergone a period of relative calm in recent months, also have been hit with near-daily attacks.
In number and scope, the attacks compiled in the Kroll reports suggest a broad and intensifying campaign of insurgent violence that contrasts sharply with assessments by Bush administration officials and Iraq's interim prime minister that the instability is contained to small pockets of the country.
Iraq insurgency outpaces coalition attempts to restore peace
The insurgency in Iraq appears to be more widespread and deadly than Iraqi leaders are prepared to admit, according to military officers and a report by a private security company, Special Operations Consulting-Security Management Group. The company says there have been been 2,300 attacks in the past 30 days, stretching from Mosul in the north through the Sunni heartland west of Baghdad and central Shia towns around Babylon down to Basra in the south. The weapons ranged from car and time bombs to rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, gunfire, mortars and landmines. They averaged 80 a day.
Intel Dump: Major combat operations resume
So why does it matter that we're back at war? Well, if you're the type who likes to keep score, it matters. If you're going to judge this president on his wartime record, it matters. This administration, though a series of major miscalculations, has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Our best hope in Iraq is to leave some sort of lasting democratic government there and to set up the Iraqis as best we can to manage their own security mess. But hope is not a method, and this will be a gamble. Nonetheless, I do not see any way for the U.S. to impose order on Iraq, short of committing 2-4 times as many troops as we have there now and imposing absolute U.S.-controlled martial law on the country. And even then, we would continue to bleed slowly from IED attacks and ambushes on a regular basis. There aren't a lot of good options out there--just varying degrees of bad ones. The tough part is picking the least bad option that will not lead to a failed state of Iraq that we must come back to again in 5 or 10 years.
posted by y2karl at 7:58 PM on October 3, 2004
Kroll Middle East Risk Monitor
From the September 30th pdf thereof:
Doubts continued to grow this week over whether elections can take place in January as planned against the current backdrop of relentless violence...It is likely that the current U.S. firmness is tied to the November presidential elections, and that its stance could change after the U.S. vote, if George Bush is re-elected. A revised and perhaps more realistic timetable could then be adopted.
Kroll provided the weekly risk assessments for the US A.I.D., which were distributed to Congress... until this graphic was published, that is. They have been discontinued.
U.S. Effort Aims to Improve Opinions About Iraq Conflict
The Bush administration, battling negative perceptions of the Iraq war, is sending Iraqi Americans to deliver what the Pentagon calls "good news" about Iraq to U.S. military bases, and has curtailed distribution of reports showing increasing violence in that country.
Of possible utillity:
SatBlog: blogging the view from low earth orbit
What I want to know is where are all the pictures of Najaf? I have not been able to find any recent pictures showing the Wadi al-Salam Cemetery.
Here is what Abbas Kadhim wrote:
"Kufa is fine, not much damage. But Najaf has been obliterated. Until now some bodies are under the ruins. No one is allowed in the old city."
Then I asked him about the cemetery:
-"when you stand at the 1920-Revolution monument, you can see the sea of Najaf," he said.
-What about my mother's grave, I asked.
- "Do you have a problem with your ears? All are gone," he said in a stoic tone.
posted by y2karl at 8:12 PM on October 3, 2004
From the September 30th pdf thereof:
Doubts continued to grow this week over whether elections can take place in January as planned against the current backdrop of relentless violence...It is likely that the current U.S. firmness is tied to the November presidential elections, and that its stance could change after the U.S. vote, if George Bush is re-elected. A revised and perhaps more realistic timetable could then be adopted.
Kroll provided the weekly risk assessments for the US A.I.D., which were distributed to Congress... until this graphic was published, that is. They have been discontinued.
U.S. Effort Aims to Improve Opinions About Iraq Conflict
The Bush administration, battling negative perceptions of the Iraq war, is sending Iraqi Americans to deliver what the Pentagon calls "good news" about Iraq to U.S. military bases, and has curtailed distribution of reports showing increasing violence in that country.
Of possible utillity:
SatBlog: blogging the view from low earth orbit
What I want to know is where are all the pictures of Najaf? I have not been able to find any recent pictures showing the Wadi al-Salam Cemetery.
Here is what Abbas Kadhim wrote:
"Kufa is fine, not much damage. But Najaf has been obliterated. Until now some bodies are under the ruins. No one is allowed in the old city."
Then I asked him about the cemetery:
-"when you stand at the 1920-Revolution monument, you can see the sea of Najaf," he said.
-What about my mother's grave, I asked.
- "Do you have a problem with your ears? All are gone," he said in a stoic tone.
posted by y2karl at 8:12 PM on October 3, 2004
This just proves Bush's and Allawi's point.
The attacks are just in a small percentage of the country. The insurgents are only able to attack where there are roads, buildings, or people nearby.
Once we get rid of all the roads, buildings and people, the attacks will stop.
posted by bashos_frog at 8:26 PM on October 3, 2004
The attacks are just in a small percentage of the country. The insurgents are only able to attack where there are roads, buildings, or people nearby.
Once we get rid of all the roads, buildings and people, the attacks will stop.
posted by bashos_frog at 8:26 PM on October 3, 2004
[blink]
Oh, wait, you're joking.
It should probably be a little bit of a worry that for just a moment, I thought you were serious. That I could think someone could be serious about that is a bad sign of the times, eh?
posted by five fresh fish at 9:12 PM on October 3, 2004
Oh, wait, you're joking.
It should probably be a little bit of a worry that for just a moment, I thought you were serious. That I could think someone could be serious about that is a bad sign of the times, eh?
posted by five fresh fish at 9:12 PM on October 3, 2004
Conservatives have no monopoly on death, destruction, or folly.
posted by hattifattener at 9:42 PM on October 3, 2004
posted by hattifattener at 9:42 PM on October 3, 2004
Golly, that looks like hard work.
BTW has the Whitehouse come up with a reason that they're sticking with for all of this hard work yet?
posted by crasspastor at 10:05 PM on October 3, 2004
BTW has the Whitehouse come up with a reason that they're sticking with for all of this hard work yet?
posted by crasspastor at 10:05 PM on October 3, 2004
crasspastor - it's hard work and therefore its own reward. Why do you hate hard work so much?
This whole "hard work" thing reminds me of Nixon going on about how pulling out of Vietnam would be the easy thing to do, and so would be somehow immoral. You know, as though anything as difficult as a unwelcome occupation of another nation is intrinsically good because of its difficulty.
Is this some sort of pathological out-of-control growth of the Protestant work ethic or something?
posted by thatwhichfalls at 10:29 PM on October 3, 2004
This whole "hard work" thing reminds me of Nixon going on about how pulling out of Vietnam would be the easy thing to do, and so would be somehow immoral. You know, as though anything as difficult as a unwelcome occupation of another nation is intrinsically good because of its difficulty.
Is this some sort of pathological out-of-control growth of the Protestant work ethic or something?
posted by thatwhichfalls at 10:29 PM on October 3, 2004
Conservatives have no monopoly on death, destruction, or folly.
That hasn't stopped them from trying to corner the market.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:31 PM on October 3, 2004
That hasn't stopped them from trying to corner the market.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:31 PM on October 3, 2004
Thanks for the Satblog link, y2karl. Good stuff.
posted by Inkslinger at 1:35 AM on October 4, 2004
posted by Inkslinger at 1:35 AM on October 4, 2004
Iraq will not be free until the Iraqis start taking matters into their own hands.
oops
posted by jmgorman at 6:53 AM on October 4, 2004
oops
posted by jmgorman at 6:53 AM on October 4, 2004
So, can someone explain to me how Allawi's 9/23 statement - "Iraq is made out of 18 provinces, 18, 1-8. Out of these 18 provinces, 14 to 15 are completely safe, there are no problems" - was anything other than an outright, full-blown LIE? And why, therefore, the press is not pointing this out, but continues to play the "Kerry says Allawi is wrong, but Bush says Kerry's wrong to say so" singsong, as if there's some HONEST difference of opinion?
Thanks in advance.
posted by soyjoy at 8:16 AM on October 4, 2004
Thanks in advance.
posted by soyjoy at 8:16 AM on October 4, 2004
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A Flash gallery by category: vehicle bombs, hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and rockets, small arms fire, landmines, homemade bombs and all attacks, courtesy of the Guardian.
posted by y2karl at 7:46 PM on October 3, 2004