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2007-07-30 Home Front: WoT

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Posted by tu3031 2007-07-30 10:41|| || Front Page|| [11 views ] Top

#1 It's an Op-Ed piece, not written by the Editors, and certainly not approved by Pinch. Now they can claim they're 'fair and balanced'.

Posted by Bobby 2007-07-30 10:45|| 2007-07-30 10:45|| Front Page Top

#2 Still, why even make their readership aware that this possibility actually exists?
There'll be hell to pay when Pinchy gets back from the Hamptons...in about a month.

Posted by tu3031 2007-07-30 10:51|| 2007-07-30 10:51|| Front Page Top

#3 Brookings Institution? Good heavens. If nothing else, I would suspect that they are starting to give the left fair warning that they had better tone it down or get seriously humiliated.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-07-30 14:10|| 2007-07-30 14:10|| Front Page Top

#4 I'd be careful about giving the Brookings Institute too much credibility. They're the same group that did a report for the US Gov't a few decades back that claimed we were not ready for contact with extraterrestrials and revealing that we had could cause mass hysteria, economic and social collapse, and civil disorder.

Posted by FOTSGreg">FOTSGreg 2007-07-30 18:14|| 2007-07-30 18:14|| Front Page Top

#5 With that said, of course, any good news is still good.

Not that the mainstream media will pay attention to this of course. Getting it in the NYT Opinion page has got to be a fluke.

Posted by FOTSGreg">FOTSGreg 2007-07-30 18:17|| 2007-07-30 18:17|| Front Page Top

#6 He and his men had built an Arab-style living room, where he met with the local Sunni sheiks all formerly allies of Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups who were now competing to secure his friendship.

I wonder if this Marine Captain took the time to make sure his newfound Sunni buddies cooperated in turning over all al Qaeda operatives they previously had contact with. Otherwise its just the usual running with the fox and hunting with the hounds bullshit; With our troops being killed as the price. Far too much of Iraqs military and police are thoroughly infiltrated.

American advisers told us that many of the corrupt and sectarian Iraqi commanders who once infested the force have been removed. The American high command assesses that more than three-quarters of the Iraqi Army battalion commanders in Baghdad are now reliable partners

I can only hope that they are doing some extremely serious vetting of these officers.

the Iraqi National Police, which are controlled by the Interior Ministry, remain mostly a disaster

Has anyone given lengthy consideration to cleaning out the Interior Ministry? It might help correct some of these problems.

the warlords in Baghdad

Why are they still living? Eliminating the coordinators of these terrorist militias would be one of the best ways to scatter their power. Starting with Moqtada Sadr, for instance?

Iraqi politicians of all stripes continue to dawdle and maneuver for position against one another when major steps towards reconciliation or at least accommodation are needed.

Which is why most of them should quietly be strangled and replaced.

How much longer should American troops keep fighting and dying to build a new Iraq while Iraqi leaders fail to do their part?

Not a whole lot longer without scaling up operations to a full and very destructive war footing.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-07-30 21:36|| 2007-07-30 21:36|| Front Page Top

#7 I should have closed with another more positive note. I do not have enough hats to take off to Petraeus. It looks like the right man has finally been put in place.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-07-30 21:38|| 2007-07-30 21:38|| Front Page Top

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