noteworthy wrote:
pziegler wrote:
Spc. Ziegler here with U.S. Central Command, I cannot find in the original article where the General said, "Keep up the good work." So, I thought I would post a link to the original article so your readers could judge for themselves.
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2221&Itemid=18
Thank you for the reply and additional link, and thank you for taking the time to create an account in order to do so.
"Keep up the good work" was not intended to be presented as an actual quote; rather, it was part of the commentary. Apologies for any confusion in that regard.
Notice the first paragraph where the headline connects with the body of the story?
I do see that, but by my reading, the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence reported in the article is not particularly good news or a "positive trend." However, to summarize the "good things" reported in the article:
* transition to Iraqis of responsibility, control, and execution
* numerous suspected bad guys captured, along with their weapons
* many homes and businesses "cleared", enabling Iraqis to hold and rebuild
* businesses, including two banks, recently reopened
Regarding the statement that operations are designed to reduce violence, undoubtedly this is true. Whether violence is actually declining, in absolute terms, is another issue.
Something else that is being ignored is that the "sectarian violence" is in large part against the police and other Iraqi authorities. These groups are very heavily Shiite, and appear to have been acting to smack down the Sunnis. Every part of this is a total botch. The Iraqis will never "stand up as we stand down" because their standing up is escalating the civil war out of control.
W and Co. managed to find a way to make a bad situation orders of magnitude worse.
