Three Views on Iraq (Updated)
Posted by MichaelW on 04 Apr 2007 at 7:57 pm | Tagged as: Military Matters, Media, MichaelW's Page, Foreign affairs, Domestic Politics
First, via Power Line, the Ugly from a HUMINT officer for Southern Iraq:
It’s not pretty but it is reality … The Iraqi government and security forces are so thoroughly infiltrated by the Shia militias that you could say that the militias are the government and you would not be far off. Iraqi police in Southern Iraq are not in the fight against the militias at all. Top CF targets walk the streets freely in every city. In most cases police stations are manned by JAM members in police uniforms who actively aid the terrorists. On the rare occasion that a Shia terrorist is actually arrested by an ISF unit, he must be turned over to CF immediately or he will be released by the police or courts.
As they say, read the whole thing.
For the Good, see Teflon Don’s post responding to the above at Patterico’s Pontifications:
In these statements, the author seems to mistake the reality of his micro-cosm of southern Iraq for the reality of the nation as a whole. Obviously, some area of Iraq are better off than others. Some seem to be slipping into chaos, such as Basra. Others seem to be slowly emerging from chaos, such as Ramadi. Iraq is too diverse, too complex, to look at one area and declare the fate of the country. Reporting trouble in one area of the country and declaring the war lost does no one service. Instead, why not examine trouble areas and ask what we can do, or what we can help Iraqis do to make things better?
Again, RTWT.
As for the Bad, see in the indispensable Michael Yon:
Who suffers? Firstly, we are losing the war in part because we are losing public support for it. We are losing public support for it in part because there are so few reports that demonstrate enough progress being made and enough reasons to continue to fight until Iraqis are able to go it alone. Secondly, the soldiers suffer because their stories are not being told.
You know what to do.
UPDATE: Related to the “Good”, MNF-I delivers this bit of news:
TIKRIT — Iraqi provincial, security and oil officials organized an unprecedented one-day delivery of nearly 5 million liters of petroleum products to Ninewa Province Monday.
After months of unsuccessful or inadequate fuel deliveries from the Bayji Oil Refinery, 135 fuel tankers carrying approximately 36,000 liters of benzene, diesel or kerosene products each were convoyed, under Iraqi Army escort, from the refinery to multiple fuel distribution centers in Mosul, Iraq.
“Planned, organized, coordinated, secured and led by Iraqis from start to finish, this fuel delivery operation demonstrates how positive Iraqi leadership can overcome the influences of corruption and crime, which has plagued the oil distribution systems of northern Iraq [in the past],†said U.S. Army Col. Gary Patton, Chief of Staff for Multi-National Division-North. “This is a significant milestone for the Iraqi people.â€
It may not seem like much, but the fact that it was entirely Iraqi led and conducted is important. That’s one of the milestones we’re striving for after all, isn’t it?
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