posted on Aug, 17 2005 @ 06:51 PM
Of course peace will come for a short span sometime.
On the otherhand, war has been the normal course of
things for hundreds of years. If you add up the time
that we are at war or preparing for war it equals
about 60% of the time. The trick is fighting the wars
with as few casualties as possible. US strategy here
is doing fine. Take todays casualties for example.
There were 45 Iraqis killed and 2 Americans. Over
the next year as Iraqis take on more of the load
and the US pulls back the casualties will become
100% Iraqi. This is why the US will win. We will
successfully enlist the help of Muslims that have
the same goals as us, like the present day Iraqis to
take on the job.
Michael Yon, who you all know reports right from
center of action is one of the great sources detailing
how the war is becoming Iraqi VS. the jihadists.
Here is a cut and paste from his August 16 post on
his net site.
Michael Yon's comments on ISF
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Friendly Forces
The friendly forces in Iraq are also an amalgamation.
In Iraq as a whole, the Coalition is comprised of
soldiers from many countries. But here in Mosul,
the "Coalition" is almost entirely US, charged
with building the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF),
while simultaneously keeping the insurgents at
bay until the ISF can take over. Building the
ISF is part of a larger plan that will allow
our people to come home, without leaving a wounded
Iraq victim to septic fundamentalism from within,
or invasion from opportunistic neighbors.
Some definitions: The ISF includes the Iraqi
Police (IP), Iraqi Army (IA), Iraqi National
Guard (ING), Border Patrol (BP), and sundry
other groups, each with their own initials.
Every month, the ISF becomes a greater and
more proximate threat to FRE and extremists
groups throughout Iraq. This is borne out in
a most ironic fashion; evidence of the growing
competence and capability of ISF shouts from
the headlines as the Iraqi government itself
becomes the primary focus of insurgent attacks.
Gone are the days when the FREs and extremists
in Mosul chased police from their stations and
ravaged entire neighborhoods at will. Today,
the ISF kills and captures enemy every day in
Mosul, something that seldom makes news.
In my own dispatches I rarely mention these
successes, yet I see or hear about small operations
every day, collecting in ever larger pools of
confidence and stability. There's no time to
write about each event; this would be like
trying to describe every raindrop that hits
the windshield while keeping up with a fast
moving storm. Eventually, a competent witness
must stop taking notes, and step back to see
the storm for what it is.
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