Bush Told in Baghdad (Iraq): Guerrillas Taking Heavy Losses, Retreating from Sunni Triangle (Debka)

Debka ^ | Nov. 30, 2003 | Debka

[FairOpinion]

Now when is the main media going to pick this up.

I think the recent 46 Iraqi terrorists killed is the first of many more good news, that we will be releasing.

It's about time, we start announcing our victories too.

[FirstPrinciple]

Are you kidding? This is Debka. According to them, the world has been destroyed three times just last week.

[FairOpinion]

Debka is very frequently right.

This particular article seems very credible.

I find it quite believable that we did kill over 1000 Iraqi Saddam loyalists, who have been attacking us, and the current success of killing 46 of those who ambused us is just one of many such successes.

[onyx]

Call me an optimist, but I think in the coming days, we'll see proof of Saddam's death or his exit to France, Iran, or to another anti-America country.

[FirstPrinciple]

I find it believable that we killed 20% of the enemy. However, I dont think they will abandon the Sunni triangle. That is their last stand.

[mickie]

I hope you are right.
Maybe thats why he needed to capture the money today.
The billions of money stolen at the bank will expire in Jan.'04. Sounds like they are starting to need a fresh supply.

[onyx]

No pun intended, but I think you're right on the money.

[ChadGore]

Please do not post anything from debka.

[pierrem15]

They have had, unforunately, enough time to re-form some of the secret police/informer apparatus and fedayeen groups.

However, they are still stupid enough (or desperate enough) to attack US armored convoys with small arms, which tells me they are afraid to wait a year or so until most US troops are gone or over the horizon and a new Iraqi gov is formed and then work to overthrow it.

They are hoping to force Bush's defeat next November and drive our coalition partners away with terror attacks on soft targets. I do not think they will succeed in either goal.

[Adrastus]

Why not? They're at least as credible as the New York Times.

[FairOpinion]

"They're at least as credible as the New York Times."

==

I agree -- actually Debka is much more credible.

[Jim Noble]

"Divide Iraq into Three States – Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds” is the title of the article appearing in The New York Times article of November 26, the day before Thanksgiving. It was written by Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the influential Council of Foreign Relations, and looks like a trial balloon by the Bush administration to see how the concept of partition goes down with American, Arab and European opinion.

I missed the original article, but if true, that's fantastic news.

The worst mistake Bush made prewar was to guarantee the territorial integrity of "Iraq", a fictitious country invented in London in 1922 to justify the Eastern frontier of Turkey.

There was nothing-and is nothing-to tie together the former Ottoman vilayets of Mosul, Mesopotamia, and Basra into "Iraq", just as there was and is nothing to tie together the Indian provinces of Sind, Baluchistan, Punjab, and NW Frontier into "Pakistan".

The sooner these Islamic fantasy states are dissolved, the better-and even though it's DEBKA, if such a proposal has surfaced in the Administration, there is a major reason for optimism.

[JoeSchem]

Why not? They're at least as credible as the New York Times.

Damned with faint praise indeed.

[FairOpinion]

Which part of the article do you specifically not believe?

There may be some details, which may not be fully accurate, but all in all, I think it's quite credible.

Which is easier to believe, that we have been taking casualties for months and we haven't been causing any, or that while we lost 100 of our troops, we killed over 1000 enemy attackers, as Debka says?

[GreenHornet]

I've been around for a while, and maybe I should already know this, but somebody please help me out here: Exactly who or what is "Debka"?

[Terp]

Debka is very frequently right. And so is a broken clock, twice a day!

[SBprone]

The story about 46 dead Saddam Fedayeen and a couple dozen more captured has been out for a while and Debka is not making this up.

I like reading Debka stories but they should come with a disclaimer. Sometimes they are so far-fetched that they provide good entertainment. At other times they appear to be carefully timed and calculated disinformation by somebody (Mossad maybe?) who has a dog in this fight.

Don't believe a word these guys post without corroboration.

[FairOpinion]

"Exactly who or what is "Debka"?"

Check them out:

http://www.debka.com/

They are an Israeli "intel/news" site. They frequently report information no in the main media -- some of it never gets confirmed or proven false, some of it is proven true, and is picked up by the newsmedia literally month later, sometimes.

Some people have a genetic hatred of Debka and wouldn't believe them, if they announced that the Sun will rise tomorrow, and every time an article is posted from Debka, they feel an urge to proclaim how unreliable Debka is.

I personally have seen it mentioned on another message board a few years ago -- I had nothing for or against them. I have been following them reasonably closely and found them to be quite accurate with many things.

Since some of their info is based on "clandastine sources", sometimes they engage in speculation, because intel by it's nature is not 100%.

They are pretty interesting to read.

I would suggest you keep an open mind and look in on them occasionally and make up your own mind.

Here is the link to their "about us" page, which will also give you a bit more info:

http://www.debka.com/doc/about.php

"58% of our viewers are aged from 25 to 46, including many members of the free professions, government officials, financial leaders, military and intelligence personnel, academics, students and incorrigible skeptics.

Our articles are regularly quoted and credited by a host of international television, radio and print media. Frequent requests for specialist interviews are received by our editorial staff and experts.

DEBKAfile has been cited as Best of the Web by Forbes, selected Hot Site by USATODAY and profiled in the New York Observer (A Web Site With the Inside Dope on the Middle East), Time Magazine, Le Monde, Paris Corriere della Sera, Milan, Wired News (Debka: Conflict’s Drudge Report?), NEW MEDIA ( For the real skinny on the Afghan story), Haaretz Magazine and Globes Digital. Articles are in preparation in Harpers and Rolling Stone.

A brief roundup of their comments is appended to this page."

[xm177e2]

If Debka is saying this, then we are losing the war.

[FairOpinion]

"If Debka is saying this, then we are losing the war."

==

Yes, Hillary. ;)