Article

2005-10-04 Iraq

US chipping away at al-Qaeda, but attacks continue

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Posted by Dan Darling 2005-10-04 01:01|| || Front Page|| [6 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 What all of these commentators are leaving out is one simple fact - the Baath party leadership was broad and deep with a claimed membership of over 1 m. And resilient. It kept the 80% of Iraq that wasn't Sunni Arab under its thumb. There are a limited number of leaders. But that pool is broad and deep, which is why rooting all of them out will take much longer than 2 years. The Malayan emergency that everyone loves quoting involved British Army troops fighting a scratch force of ethnic Chinese communists that never numbered more than a few thousand at any one time. This scratch force continued ambushing and killing military personnel for almost 2 decades after the British military left. Total time before complete collapse - 30 years.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2005-10-04 01:31|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-10-04 01:31|| Front Page Top

#2 Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. officer in Iraq, told Congress on Thursday that insurgencies last an average of nine years

...Is it just me or does that sound...MacNamarish?

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2005-10-04 20:33|| 2005-10-04 20:33|| Front Page Top

#3 It's you. He's correct. The other part is the variability, which is fairly broad.

I know counter intel people who were still dealing with hidden Nazis in the early 50s.

Posted by Omerens Omaigum2983 2005-10-04 20:55|| 2005-10-04 20:55|| Front Page Top

#4 Who cares how long it takes? What's the alternative? Come home and let them metastasize?

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-10-04 21:19|| 2005-10-04 21:19|| Front Page Top

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