The surge was successful

evince

evince

Truthmatters
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/16/iraq/main4265791.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_4265791


When did it become a success?


Deadly Car Bomb Rocks Iraqi Market
At Least 12 Killed, Dozens Injured After Blast Hits Northern Iraqi Town

BAGHDAD, July 16, 2008

Iraqi army soldiers march during a province handover ceremony in Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, July 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)




(CBS/ AP) Police say a car bomb has exploded in a popular outdoor market in northern Iraq, killing at least 12 people and injuring 30.

A local police official says a parked car rigged with explosives struck late afternoon shoppers in Tal Afar, about 260 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Wednesday's bombing was the latest sign of instability around the northern city of Mosul, which is considered the last major urban stronghold for al Qaeda in Iraq insurgents. Earlier, two people died in a car bombing in the city.
 
"When did it become a success?"

When "they" declared it as such. That's how it's been the whole time; just declare victory, or declare that the economy is humming, or that nothing is as it seems. Say it many times, over & over, and it becomes true.
 
Yeah it's sad but it's become "common knowledge" now, and opponents of the War are forced to concede that the surge has been successful to some degree before they can be taken seriously. It really serves to undermine the more important argument, which is that we never should have been there in the first place.

With his early support of the surge, McCain has to some degree neutralized Obama's otherwise substantial advantage on Iraq.
 
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/25/iraq.main/index.html

Iraq violence at lowest level in four years, U.S. military says

"Iraq-wide, we have seen a significant reduction of violence," said Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, spokesman for the Multi-National Forces.

"In the past week, security incidents decreased to levels we have not seen since March of 2004. These figures reflect a decrease in attacks of some 70 percent since the surge operations began in June of 2007," he said.
 
Obama himself changed his website to remove statements of opposition to the surge to reflect "changing conditions on the ground." It doesn't mean his policy has changed, but to deny reality is a bit silly. I think rather than sending more troops in we should have removed those we had. But that wasn't my call to make and violence has dropped for whatever reason.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/the-success-of.html

Obama seemed today a bit on the defensive on Iraq, as evidenced by edits Obama's campaign staff made to language on his campaign website decrying the surge as a failure, as well as a speech Obama delivered today in which he explained why the surge's success doesn't change his view of needing to withdraw U.S. forces in that country.

"For weeks, now, Senator McCain has argued that the gains of the surge mean that I should change my commitment to end the war," Obama said Tuesday morning in a speech at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, just blocks from the White House. "But this argument misconstrues what is necessary to succeed in Iraq, and stubbornly ignores the facts of the broader strategic picture that we face."
 
15 of 18.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,374603,00.html

WASHINGTON — The Iraqi government achieved "satisfactory" progress on 15 of 18 political benchmarks, almost twice the number it had reached just a year ago, according to a White House report.

In a May 2008 report to Congress obtained by the Associated Press, the Bush administration wrote that Baghdad politicians reached several new agreements seen as critical to easing sectarian tensions.

Iraqi politicians passed legislation that granted amnesty to some prisoners and allowed former members of Saddam Hussein's political party to recover lost jobs or pensions. They also determined that provincial elections would be held by Oct. 1.

Only two of the benchmarks — enacting and implementing laws to disarm militias and distribute oil revenues — remained "unsatisfactory."

One benchmark was deemed to have brought mixed results. The Iraqi army has made satisfactory progress on the goal of fairly enforcing the law, while the nation's police force remains plagued by sectarianism, according to the administration assessment.
 
To argue against the initial premise of the war is to argue only against Bush supporting Republicans.

To argue against the success of the surge is to argue against moderate perception and statistics.
 
Desh said:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/16/iraq/main4265791.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_4265791


When did it become a success?


Deadly Car Bomb Rocks Iraqi Market
At Least 12 Killed, Dozens Injured After Blast Hits Northern Iraqi Town

BAGHDAD, July 16, 2008

Iraqi army soldiers march during a province handover ceremony in Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, July 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)




(CBS/ AP) Police say a car bomb has exploded in a popular outdoor market in northern Iraq, killing at least 12 people and injuring 30.

A local police official says a parked car rigged with explosives struck late afternoon shoppers in Tal Afar, about 260 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Wednesday's bombing was the latest sign of instability around the northern city of Mosul, which is considered the last major urban stronghold for al Qaeda in Iraq insurgents. Earlier, two people died in a car bombing in the city.
Click to expand...


When obama took his opposition to it off his website.
 
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11853203


I dont trust a white house report



Iraq Benchmarks Set by Bush, Lawmakers
NPR.org, July 10, 2007 · In an assessment set to be released Thursday, President Bush is expected to report that the Iraqi goverment has not met some of the benchmarks set in an agreement between the White House and Congress in May.

The political, economic and military benchmarks for success were determined during debate over a bill to provide supplemental funding for the war in Iraq.

The Bush Administration's report, due Sunday, July 15, is the first of two required under the $120 billion supplemental spending bill. The second report is to be issued Sept. 15, the same day Gen. David Petraeus will provide his military review of the situation in Iraq.

Here's a look at the benchmarks, as defined in the Iraq Supplemental Appropriations bill:

1. Forming a Constitutional Review Committee and then completing the constitutional review.

2. Enacting and implementing legislation on de-Baathification.

3. Enacting and implementing legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources of the people of Iraq without regard to the sect or ethnicity of recipients, and enacting and implementing legislation to ensure that the energy resources of Iraq benefit Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, Kurds, and other Iraqi citizens in an equitable manner.

4. Enacting and implementing legislation on procedures to form semi-autonomous regions.

5. Enacting and implementing legislation establishing an Independent High Electoral Commission, provincial elections law, provincial council authorities, and a date for provincial elections.

6. Enacting and implementing legislation addressing amnesty.

7. Enacting and implementing legislation establishing a strong militia disarmament program to ensure that such security forces are accountable only to the central government and loyal to the Constitution of Iraq.

8. Establishing supporting political, media, economic, and services committees in support of the Baghdad Security Plan.

9. Providing three trained and ready Iraqi brigades to support Baghdad operations.

10. Providing Iraqi commanders with all authorities to execute this plan and to make tactical and operational decisions, in consultation with U.S commanders, without political intervention, to include the authority to pursue all extremists, including Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.

11. Ensuring that the Iraqi Security Forces are providing even handed enforcement of the law.

12. Ensuring that, according to President Bush, Prime Minister Maliki said "the Baghdad security plan will not provide a safe haven for any outlaws, regardless of [their] sectarian or political affiliation".

13. Reducing the level of sectarian violence in Iraq and eliminating militia control of local security.

14. Establishing all of the planned joint security stations in neighborhoods across Baghdad.

15. Increasing the number of Iraqi security forces units capable of operating independently.

16. Ensuring that the rights of minority political parties in the Iraqi legislature are protected.

17. Allocating and spending $10 billion in Iraqi revenues for reconstruction projects, including delivery of essential services, on an equitable basis.

18. Ensuring that Iraq's political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the Iraqi Security Forces.

Source: H.R. 2206
 
The white house has a record of lying and firing any General who doesnt say what they want them to say.
 
LMAO... again, you find a report from a year ago. How can a report from a year ago show the results of today?
 
cawacko said:
LMAO... again, you find a report from a year ago. How can a report from a year ago show the results of today?
Click to expand...
It can't. Shoot, even Mark Udall (D - Congressman from Boulder), talked about the relative success of the surge in his debate with Bob Schaffer (R - Republican Candidate for Senate my former Congressman). He's been there recently even and now speaks of "conditional on circumstances on the ground" when talking about withdrawal. When Mark Udall starts saying the same things as the WH and McCain there is something to pay attention to.
 
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