Was the surge successfull in Iraq?
- Thread starter Jarod
- Start date
to throw more lives and money after wasted lives and money
not completely wasted, after all we have all that live training for the people that survived
iraq still has no government 7 months after the election
how many lives, maimed and wounded plus trillions of dollars have we spent to revenge on sadahm for trying to kill poppy
I believe the goal was to reduce violence & increase the level of security, so the new gov't would have room to better establish itself.
Those things happened. I have no problem admitting I was wrong about the surge; I have heard some dissenting arguments along the lines of "the violence was decreasing anyway," and that some accord between different factions accounted for a lot of the decrease, but regardless - it didn't hurt, and it didn't produce some of the negative results I thought it would.
I do think it's notable how much Bushies harp on it, as opposed to the dozen disastrous decisions that were made prior, like disbanding the Iraqi army, and invading in the first place.
Those things happened. I have no problem admitting I was wrong about the surge; I have heard some dissenting arguments along the lines of "the violence was decreasing anyway," and that some accord between different factions accounted for a lot of the decrease, but regardless - it didn't hurt, and it didn't produce some of the negative results I thought it would.
I do think it's notable how much Bushies harp on it, as opposed to the dozen disastrous decisions that were made prior, like disbanding the Iraqi army, and invading in the first place.
we never found those wmds
cawacko
Well-known member
the question asked was was the surge successful? It was not should we have gone into Iraq etc.
I agree that the goal was to give a new government to have room to better establish itself.....
That did not happen...!!!
Basically there is no government in Iraq, no government has been established.
So we lost lives by doing the surge instead of simply pulling out.... and no government was established, so how can you say it was a success?
That did not happen...!!!
Basically there is no government in Iraq, no government has been established.
So we lost lives by doing the surge instead of simply pulling out.... and no government was established, so how can you say it was a success?
ok, no it was not successful as we still do not have a stable government in iraq and the insurgents are still around...
ps the iraqi police and military are not up for their jobs yet so we have left 50,000 'advisers' and other support personnel
No, no...it was to reduce the violence, and it did, increase the level of security, and it did, and allow the government room to better establish itself....and we do agree that it hasn't happened yet, but is pending. Then I am the eternal optimist too. I have to say that the surge was successful, at least IMO...as successful as we could expect given the circumstances.
Crashk
Unite or Die
In the context of the Iraq War, the surge refers to United States President George W. Bush's 2007 increase in the number of American troops in order to provide security to Baghdad and Al Anbar Province.[1]
The surge had been developed under the working title "The New Way Forward" and it was announced in January 2007 by Bush...
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War_troop_surge_of_2007"]Iraq War troop surge of 2007 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Ambox_outdated_serious.svg" class="image"><img alt="Ambox outdated serious.svg" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Ambox_outdated_serious.svg/40px-Ambox_outdated_serious.svg.png"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/8/8f/Ambox_outdated_serious.svg/40px-Ambox_outdated_serious.svg.png[/ame]
The 'surge' was like spraying for cockroaches. Yea, you kill a few but what you are really doing is chasing them into your neighbors yard. As soon as your spray wears off they will be back. Bush knew this. The real reason for the surge was to take the spotlight off of Iraq and to try to gain politically for the 2008 elections.
Obama won the election so the surge didn't work.
The surge had been developed under the working title "The New Way Forward" and it was announced in January 2007 by Bush...
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War_troop_surge_of_2007"]Iraq War troop surge of 2007 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Ambox_outdated_serious.svg" class="image"><img alt="Ambox outdated serious.svg" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Ambox_outdated_serious.svg/40px-Ambox_outdated_serious.svg.png"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/8/8f/Ambox_outdated_serious.svg/40px-Ambox_outdated_serious.svg.png[/ame]
The 'surge' was like spraying for cockroaches. Yea, you kill a few but what you are really doing is chasing them into your neighbors yard. As soon as your spray wears off they will be back. Bush knew this. The real reason for the surge was to take the spotlight off of Iraq and to try to gain politically for the 2008 elections.
Obama won the election so the surge didn't work.
Cancel 2018. 3
<-- sched 2, MJ sched 1
jarod and onceler's hero obama said the surge succeeded beyond their wildest dreams 
jarod and onceler's hero obama said the surge succeeded beyond their wildest dreams
The human projector.
Billy the Great Khan
Uwaa OmO
It was an unquestionable success.
cawacko
Well-known member
I thought Jarod was the only one who thought it wasn't. Looks like DQ didn't want him to be lonely.
There are plausible arguments that factors other than an increase in the numbers of troops led to the reductions in violence and that the reduction in violence was not attributable to the surge.
It seems to me that the most you can "unquestionably" say is that people like that though that the surge would result in an increase in violence were wrong.
Well, Bush said it was to give the Government in Iraq Breathing room to establish itself.... That did not happen, thus by Bush's standards it was not a success.
He didn't say it would result in an established government in Iraq, but merely would allow for the establishment of an Iraqi government. That the Iraqis were unable to establish a functioning government does not mean that they didn't have the requisite "breathing room" to do so.
cancel2 2022
Canceled
The surge was successful because they managed to turn around the Sunni insurgents, whether that will remain the case is up for speculation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/08/AR2008080802918.html
True, but that was the goal and it did not happen.
cawacko
Well-known member
So your argument is they did not have the "breathing room" to allow themselves to attempt to set up a government?
what would you call what they had then?
