Well with the Sept. 15th Iraq Report coming I am not surprised by all the pre-emptive strikes being made by the media. Many are trying to point out that things have not met “goals” that were set. Well that’s all fine and good, if you were the one that set the goals. But looking at just what has gone on for the last couple of months since the “surge” operation happened you find some very positive things going on.
In a August 28th briefing Maj. Gen. Caldwell, spokesman for the Multi-national Forces in Iraq said, “We're seeing progress towards reducing the number of kidnappings, murders and sectarian violence in areas in which we're operating. Attacks within the Baghdad province averaged about 23 attacks per day over the past week, which is lower than the monthly average for July. The average daily murder rate in Baghdad province has dropped 46 percent from July to August. And if you look to just the past few weeks, from the 7th through the 25th of August, the murder rate has dropped 50 percent over the daily rate for July.” (From http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2460&Itemid=30&lang=english)
What’s that? Murders, kidnappings and sectarian violence is down? I would not have known that had I not researched for this article.
In a Sept 5th briefing, Maj. Gen. Bergner said, “Since the surge of offensive operations began in the middle of June, security incidents overall have declined for eight of the last eleven weeks. And last week the number of incidents was the lowest in over a year.” That’s right he said that attacks have for the most part declined. I know I know you have been told different. But by who and with what data to back it up?
Another thing he talked on was the “ethno-sectarian” killings, you of course heard of the “spectacular” attack that left several hundred dead. But what they (the media) fail to tell, and the Gen. will is, “On a national level, sectarian deaths are about half of what they were in December 2006.” I know again you have been told things have not improved and the “civil war” or “ethnic killings” are just as bad as they were. Sorry but whoever told you that is wrong or lying, you pick.
Well what about the Iraqi people, I am told they have little or no confidence in the Iraqi and US military and do not like them or work with them well. Gen. Bergner provided an interesting view on that, “Another reference point that we use is the number of weapons caches founds because they are a direct reflection of the amount of cooperation between the citizens of Iraq, the Iraqi security forces, and Coalition forces. The Iraqi army and Iraqi citizens are increasingly effective in locating these weapons caches and coordinating with their security forces and ours. The number of weapons caches found in all of 2006 was about 2,700. The number found so far through August of this year has already exceeded 4,300.” (from http://www.mnf-iraq.com/images/stories/Press_briefings/2007/070905_transcript.pdf) He went on to talk about an incident where Multi-national forces raided a building in Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad where they found 9 Iraqis being held prisoner. These 9 were Al-Qaeda members being held by their own people for disobedience. That’s right Al-Qaeda members being held by Al-Qaeda members. Is this a sign of discordance in the ranks of the terrorist? In a nearby building the troops found 12 TONS of ammonium nitrate and 10 - 55 gallon drums of petroleum. The same ingredients that were used in the bombing of the Federal Building in OK. That’s 12 TONS! Not a mention of this anywhere in the media of course..
I wonder why the media has not mentioned these positive trends happening. But then again I am not that surprised.