Joe Biden on the surge strategy: Yes, he's all wet with the water balloon analogy
If it weren't for Joe Biden, we'd have no comedy in Congress, AND everyone would think congressmen were smart. Biden proves, yet again, that he has no clue as to what he's talking about in his op-ed for the WaPo today:
Sen. John McCain[" The War You're Not Reading About," op-ed, April 8] is right to warn about the consequences of failure in Iraq. But he is fundamentally wrong when he argues that those potential consequences require us to stick with a failing strategy.
It is precisely because the stakes are so great that we must change course in Iraq, now.
McCain wrote that the president's strategy is beginning to show results but that most Americans don't know it because the media cover the bad news, not the good news. Of course, reporting any news in Iraq is an extraordinary act of bravery, given the dangers journalists must navigate every day. But the fact is, virtually every "welcome development" McCain cited has been reported, including the purported anti-al-Qaeda alliance with Sunni sheikhs in Anbar, the establishment of joint U.S.-Iraqi security stations in Baghdad and the decision by Moqtada al-Sadr to go to ground -- for now.
The problem is that for every welcome development, there is an equally or even more unwelcome development that gives lie to the claim that we are making progress. For example:
· While violence against Iraqis is down in some Baghdad neighborhoods where we have "surged" forces, it is up dramatically in the belt ringing Baghdad. The civilian death toll increased 15 percent from February to March. Essentially, when we squeeze the water balloon in one place, it bulges somewhere else.
OK, this shows good old Joe doesn't know squat about warfare. We are aggressively going after these animals, cutting their lines of communication, cutting off their support from Iran and Syria, and elsewhere, and we're killing or capturing them. If you're on the receiving end of this sort of strategy, are you just going to sit around and wait for US and Iraqi forces to nail your @$$ to the wall? No, you're going to fight back. You're going to try and exploit any weakness you can find in your enemy. Case in point: the bombing inside the Green Zone today. The terrorists located a soft spot, and struck. That doesn't mean the surge isn't working. On the contrary, it shows that it is. Imagine the risk of such an attack. That porr little "martyr," if he had been caught, he would've failed in his mission.
· It is true that Sadr has not been seen, but he has been heard, rallying his followers with anti-American messages and encouraging his thugs to take on American troops in the south. Intelligence experts believe his militia is simply waiting out the surge.
Um, that doesn't jive with the intel we've been seeing about the Mahdi Army. Al-Sadr's sitting in Iran right now because he knows that's the only place his precious little backside is safe. Yes, he's directing what is left of his army (via courier) in attacks against US, Iraqi, and coalition forces, but he's out of the zone now. He's always hated America. (Joe should know this as al-Sadr is an Islamic militant FROM IRAN! When was the last time such a militant was ever friendly to us?) When the surge began, the Mahdi army tried it's best to fight against the unified efforts of Iraqi and US forces, but they soon realized they were overwhelmed. And that was after they realized that their supplies, support, and communications were being squeezed hard.
Once they saw that happening, three things occurred: Al-Sadr fled for the hills of Iran, the Mahdi's either gave up the ghost -- fleeing Iraq or heading for parts unknown -- or they surrendered, and because those things occurred, violence dropped. We found and destroyed two carbomb factories constructing the chlorine bombs that had been plaguing Baghdad. We broke up two indigenous IED construction sites. We're not pulling any punches here, and we're taking the fight to them. Because we did, the Mahdi Army quickly crumbled. It was even reported by Hot Air a couple weeks ago that there was infighting amongst the remaining Mahdi members, causing even more stress on the terrorists efforts to derail the Iraqi government, and force our withdrawal.
· Closing markets to vehicles has precluded some car bombs, but it also has prompted terrorists to change tactics and walk in with suicide vests. The road from the airport to Baghdad may be safer, but the skies above it are more lethal -- witness the ironic imposition of "no-fly zones" for our own helicopters.
Joe Biden is a moron. When you are in a war, and your tactics are being defeated repeatedly, do you stick with the same old tactics? No. You change them. That's what they're doing. The introduction of suicide vests doesn't mean we're beaten. It's forcing us to change our tactics, and given General Petreus's intelligence, I'm sure we'll find a way to overcome this new tactic. But to bemoan that this is a sign we're losing is simply stupid.
The most damning evidence that the "results" McCain cites are illusory is the city of Tall Afar. Architects of the president's plan called it a model because in 2005, a surge of about 10,000 Americans and Iraqis pacified the city. Then we left Tall Afar, just as our troops soon will leave the Baghdad neighborhoods that they have calmed.
This month, Tall Afar was the scene of some of the most horrific sectarian violence to date: a massive truck bomb aimed at the Shiite community led to a retaliatory rampage by Shiite death squads, aided by the Iraqi police. Hundreds were killed. The population of Tall Afar, 200,000 a few years ago, is down to 80,000.
And like most ont he Left, Joe Biden paints an incomplete picture of the violence and situation in Tal Afar. Yes, there is some violence still there, but when it arrives, as with the truck bombing Biden cites, US and Iraqi forces responded immediately, and kept things from exploding -- literally -- in Tal Afar. Tal Afar, and a host of other cities are still dealing with violence, yes, but not to the extent that they were suffering. The Iraqi forces are engaging the enemy, and with the help of US forces.
This doom-and-gloom manic op-ed is pure pap. Biden is trying to paint a picture that the surge has failed despite it's successes. He's focusing on al-Sadr, who is hardly a problem now, in comparison to Iran's continued meddling in Iraq. The Democrats who want to play the round-heel game are doing their absolute damndest to paint a picture for the American people that isn't true. It's like repainting the Mona Lisa, and telling the world that's what she always looked like. It's taken the alternative media a steadfastness that the MSM lacks on all levels to counter the lies. And it hasn't been an esay task, especially with so many willing sheeple still buying their lies hook, line, and sinker.
Joe Biden does no justice for America in this piece. It's more retreatist rhetoric, and the same as we've come to expect from the part of defeat since they took power in January.
Publius II
ADDENDUM: Over at Weekly Standard, Fred Kagan also lambastes Joe Biden. He makes many of the same points I do, but in a far more eloquent manner. You'll enjoy that piece, too if you agree that Biden's got no clue as to what he's prattling on about.
Sen. John McCain[" The War You're Not Reading About," op-ed, April 8] is right to warn about the consequences of failure in Iraq. But he is fundamentally wrong when he argues that those potential consequences require us to stick with a failing strategy.
It is precisely because the stakes are so great that we must change course in Iraq, now.
McCain wrote that the president's strategy is beginning to show results but that most Americans don't know it because the media cover the bad news, not the good news. Of course, reporting any news in Iraq is an extraordinary act of bravery, given the dangers journalists must navigate every day. But the fact is, virtually every "welcome development" McCain cited has been reported, including the purported anti-al-Qaeda alliance with Sunni sheikhs in Anbar, the establishment of joint U.S.-Iraqi security stations in Baghdad and the decision by Moqtada al-Sadr to go to ground -- for now.
The problem is that for every welcome development, there is an equally or even more unwelcome development that gives lie to the claim that we are making progress. For example:
· While violence against Iraqis is down in some Baghdad neighborhoods where we have "surged" forces, it is up dramatically in the belt ringing Baghdad. The civilian death toll increased 15 percent from February to March. Essentially, when we squeeze the water balloon in one place, it bulges somewhere else.
OK, this shows good old Joe doesn't know squat about warfare. We are aggressively going after these animals, cutting their lines of communication, cutting off their support from Iran and Syria, and elsewhere, and we're killing or capturing them. If you're on the receiving end of this sort of strategy, are you just going to sit around and wait for US and Iraqi forces to nail your @$$ to the wall? No, you're going to fight back. You're going to try and exploit any weakness you can find in your enemy. Case in point: the bombing inside the Green Zone today. The terrorists located a soft spot, and struck. That doesn't mean the surge isn't working. On the contrary, it shows that it is. Imagine the risk of such an attack. That porr little "martyr," if he had been caught, he would've failed in his mission.
· It is true that Sadr has not been seen, but he has been heard, rallying his followers with anti-American messages and encouraging his thugs to take on American troops in the south. Intelligence experts believe his militia is simply waiting out the surge.
Um, that doesn't jive with the intel we've been seeing about the Mahdi Army. Al-Sadr's sitting in Iran right now because he knows that's the only place his precious little backside is safe. Yes, he's directing what is left of his army (via courier) in attacks against US, Iraqi, and coalition forces, but he's out of the zone now. He's always hated America. (Joe should know this as al-Sadr is an Islamic militant FROM IRAN! When was the last time such a militant was ever friendly to us?) When the surge began, the Mahdi army tried it's best to fight against the unified efforts of Iraqi and US forces, but they soon realized they were overwhelmed. And that was after they realized that their supplies, support, and communications were being squeezed hard.
Once they saw that happening, three things occurred: Al-Sadr fled for the hills of Iran, the Mahdi's either gave up the ghost -- fleeing Iraq or heading for parts unknown -- or they surrendered, and because those things occurred, violence dropped. We found and destroyed two carbomb factories constructing the chlorine bombs that had been plaguing Baghdad. We broke up two indigenous IED construction sites. We're not pulling any punches here, and we're taking the fight to them. Because we did, the Mahdi Army quickly crumbled. It was even reported by Hot Air a couple weeks ago that there was infighting amongst the remaining Mahdi members, causing even more stress on the terrorists efforts to derail the Iraqi government, and force our withdrawal.
· Closing markets to vehicles has precluded some car bombs, but it also has prompted terrorists to change tactics and walk in with suicide vests. The road from the airport to Baghdad may be safer, but the skies above it are more lethal -- witness the ironic imposition of "no-fly zones" for our own helicopters.
Joe Biden is a moron. When you are in a war, and your tactics are being defeated repeatedly, do you stick with the same old tactics? No. You change them. That's what they're doing. The introduction of suicide vests doesn't mean we're beaten. It's forcing us to change our tactics, and given General Petreus's intelligence, I'm sure we'll find a way to overcome this new tactic. But to bemoan that this is a sign we're losing is simply stupid.
The most damning evidence that the "results" McCain cites are illusory is the city of Tall Afar. Architects of the president's plan called it a model because in 2005, a surge of about 10,000 Americans and Iraqis pacified the city. Then we left Tall Afar, just as our troops soon will leave the Baghdad neighborhoods that they have calmed.
This month, Tall Afar was the scene of some of the most horrific sectarian violence to date: a massive truck bomb aimed at the Shiite community led to a retaliatory rampage by Shiite death squads, aided by the Iraqi police. Hundreds were killed. The population of Tall Afar, 200,000 a few years ago, is down to 80,000.
And like most ont he Left, Joe Biden paints an incomplete picture of the violence and situation in Tal Afar. Yes, there is some violence still there, but when it arrives, as with the truck bombing Biden cites, US and Iraqi forces responded immediately, and kept things from exploding -- literally -- in Tal Afar. Tal Afar, and a host of other cities are still dealing with violence, yes, but not to the extent that they were suffering. The Iraqi forces are engaging the enemy, and with the help of US forces.
This doom-and-gloom manic op-ed is pure pap. Biden is trying to paint a picture that the surge has failed despite it's successes. He's focusing on al-Sadr, who is hardly a problem now, in comparison to Iran's continued meddling in Iraq. The Democrats who want to play the round-heel game are doing their absolute damndest to paint a picture for the American people that isn't true. It's like repainting the Mona Lisa, and telling the world that's what she always looked like. It's taken the alternative media a steadfastness that the MSM lacks on all levels to counter the lies. And it hasn't been an esay task, especially with so many willing sheeple still buying their lies hook, line, and sinker.
Joe Biden does no justice for America in this piece. It's more retreatist rhetoric, and the same as we've come to expect from the part of defeat since they took power in January.
Publius II
ADDENDUM: Over at Weekly Standard, Fred Kagan also lambastes Joe Biden. He makes many of the same points I do, but in a far more eloquent manner. You'll enjoy that piece, too if you agree that Biden's got no clue as to what he's prattling on about.
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 1:08 PM
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