red states rule
Senior Member
- May 30, 2006
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You know the US military is kicking ass in Iraq when the NY Times puts the story on page A-19, and does not put al Qaeda in the headline
Tell me agin how there is no liberal bias at the NY Times
Militant Group Is Out of Baghdad, U.S. Says
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: November 8, 2007
BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the surge to depart as planned.
Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of United States forces in Baghdad, also said that American troops had yet to clear some 13 percent of the city, including Sadr City and several other areas controlled by Shiite militias. But, he said, theres just no question that violence had declined since a spike in June.
Murder victims are down 80 percent from where they were at the peak, and attacks involving improvised bombs are down 70 percent, he said.
General Fil attributed the decline to improvements in the Iraqi security forces, a cease-fire ordered by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, the disruption of financing for insurgents, and, most significant, Iraqis rejection of the rule of the gun.
His comments, in a broad interview over egg rolls and lo mein in a Green Zone conference room, were the latest in a series of upbeat assessments he and other commanders have offered in recent months. But his descriptions revealed a city still in transition: tormented by its past, struggling to find a better future.
The Iraqi people have just decided that theyve had it up to here with violence, he said, while noting that their demands for electricity, water and jobs have intensified.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced families are returning to their homes, but a majority of them are still afraid to go back to neighborhoods now segregated by sect. Clearly, General Fil said, it will take some time for Baghdad to restore itself to what it was.
He and other military commanders have maintained for months that the conditions for national reconciliation have been met. They argue that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence agencies say is foreign-led, has been weakened. They cite in particular the rise of the American-supported citizen volunteers 67,000 nationwide, according to military figures.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
Tell me agin how there is no liberal bias at the NY Times
Militant Group Is Out of Baghdad, U.S. Says
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: November 8, 2007
BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the surge to depart as planned.
Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of United States forces in Baghdad, also said that American troops had yet to clear some 13 percent of the city, including Sadr City and several other areas controlled by Shiite militias. But, he said, theres just no question that violence had declined since a spike in June.
Murder victims are down 80 percent from where they were at the peak, and attacks involving improvised bombs are down 70 percent, he said.
General Fil attributed the decline to improvements in the Iraqi security forces, a cease-fire ordered by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, the disruption of financing for insurgents, and, most significant, Iraqis rejection of the rule of the gun.
His comments, in a broad interview over egg rolls and lo mein in a Green Zone conference room, were the latest in a series of upbeat assessments he and other commanders have offered in recent months. But his descriptions revealed a city still in transition: tormented by its past, struggling to find a better future.
The Iraqi people have just decided that theyve had it up to here with violence, he said, while noting that their demands for electricity, water and jobs have intensified.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced families are returning to their homes, but a majority of them are still afraid to go back to neighborhoods now segregated by sect. Clearly, General Fil said, it will take some time for Baghdad to restore itself to what it was.
He and other military commanders have maintained for months that the conditions for national reconciliation have been met. They argue that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence agencies say is foreign-led, has been weakened. They cite in particular the rise of the American-supported citizen volunteers 67,000 nationwide, according to military figures.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
