(Cont. from Part 1) Rumsfeld Visits troops; U.S.-trained officer killed Boston Globe 12/07/03
<< Much of the violence has occurred in Mosul and in the Sunni Triangle, the region north and west of Baghdad where a substantial segment of the population remains loyal to Saddam Hussein and where US forces face almost daily ambushes and bomb attacks. But US commanders told Rumsfeld that aggressive counterattacks against the shadowy guerrilla army has reduced the threat faced by US forces.
<< "It improves -- every day it gets better," Major General Raymond T. Odierno, commander of the Army's Fourth Infantry Division, told Rumsfeld as the secretary of defense shared a meal with US troops in the northern city of Kirkuk as part of his unannounced one-day tour of the country. >>
And why do even major news organizations like the Boston Globe keep repeating this "it's mostly the Sunni triangle" line? I do notice they include Mosul, which is in the Shiite south, in the litany in the quote above.
This war is such a mess than one would think even a Fox News reporter would be able to notice. The happy talk above should be taken in conjunction with this from the Times article:
<< "You have to understand the Arab mind," Capt. Todd Brown, a company commander with the Fourth Infantry Division, said as he stood outside the gates of Abu Hishma. "The only thing they understand is force — force, pride and saving face." >>
Just a wild guess: I'll bet Captain Brown understands about 10 words of Arabic. But he fancies himself an authority on "the Arab mind."
This war isn't going to be a disaster. It is a disaster. The big question for the US now is how much damage will it do to America before we admit it's a failure (with the appropriate diplomatic weasel-words about "peace with honor" or whatever) and extricate ourselves from this thing.
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