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A War We Just Might Win
The New York Times ^ | 7-30-07 | O'Hanlon and Pollack

Posted on 07/30/2007 6:11:17 AM PDT by RealTeen

VIEWED from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.

After the furnace-like heat, the first thing you notice when you land in Baghdad is the morale of our troops. In previous trips to Iraq we often found American troops angry and frustrated — many sensed they had the wrong strategy, were using the wrong tactics and were risking their lives in pursuit of an approach that could not work.

Today, morale is high. The soldiers and marines told us they feel that they now have a superb commander in Gen. David Petraeus; they are confident in his strategy, they see real results, and they feel now they have the numbers needed to make a real difference.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: brookings; iraq; kennethpollack; michaelohanlon; nyt; nytimes; progress; terrorism; wot
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To: MrB
"He sounds like some of the leftist moonbats that used to inhabit the Yahoo message boards."

He's got all the lefty talking points and the obligatory misspellings of an uneducated lib kid in his mom's basement.

- "dieing in vein"
- "Vietnam war"

41 posted on 07/30/2007 7:37:22 AM PDT by avacado
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To: RealTeen; TheLastTrueRepublican777
BULL. If we lose in Iraq, Americans will die at the hands of terrorists. You’re buying into the leftist rhetoric.

Right on the money. The lefties agree with you on the obligatory "supporting the troops" then they give you the "BUT", even capitalized, followed by "insert all the negatives......." which are their real opinion!

He signed in today to start the "BUTTS"!

42 posted on 07/30/2007 7:50:38 AM PDT by melancholy (Quiz: name one country, other than the USA, that doesn't control its borders.)
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To: RealTeen

All you NYT bashers remember this... even a broken clock is right twice a day...


43 posted on 07/30/2007 7:52:10 AM PDT by RachelFaith (Doing NOTHING... about the illegals already here IS Amnesty !!)
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To: bigbob
I think you meant Clymer, didn't you? ;o)

I think this is the first step in a reverse strategy to be embraced by the dem's...everything is working fine in Baghdad, time for us to leave. No need to stay, the Iraqi's are doing fine, bring the troops home now. That will sound better during the campaign, than, "we can't win, let's leave." At the end of the day, their goal is accomplished, get the US out of the middle east only this way, they will appeal to the majority of Americans who believe in the war but not the way it has been prosecuted.

44 posted on 07/30/2007 7:53:11 AM PDT by Paco
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To: RedRover
TheLastTrueRepublican777 is just another retread troll.For some reason, "777" is favored by trolls as part of their screen names.

You got that right. Maybe the 777 is for them to recognize each others on threads.

Watch for a change. LOL

45 posted on 07/30/2007 7:57:25 AM PDT by melancholy (Quiz: name one country, other than the USA, that doesn't control its borders.)
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To: avacado

I kinda miss the ol’ yahoo moonbat battles. It sure gave a lot of incite into how those folks think and what drives them. Mostly juvenile thinking, Bush hating, hate for authority (unless that authority is being used to take from someone else who has more).


46 posted on 07/30/2007 7:57:54 AM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: melancholy

each others-————> each other.

Posting about moonbats ruins one’s spelling. it MUST be their fault not Bush’s! LOL


47 posted on 07/30/2007 8:02:14 AM PDT by melancholy (Quiz: name one country, other than the USA, that doesn't control its borders.)
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To: MrB

Yeah, the Yahoo boards were wild. Definitely got to see the inner mind of the moonbat. Most seemed like kids still living at home who are fighting the oppression of their parents who force them to clean up their rooms.

On the Yahoo boards... they became “somebody” with a voice!


48 posted on 07/30/2007 8:04:22 AM PDT by avacado
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To: TheLastTrueRepublican777

hey DUmmy troll, your brilliant spelling gave you away, let alone the recycled talking points.

Admin, fire away!


49 posted on 07/30/2007 8:07:06 AM PDT by enough_idiocy (Get the troops out of the Iraqi civil war and send them to the Sudan civil war. Biden '08 /sarcasm)
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To: avacado

If you thought Yahoo was bad, check out digg.com. It’s supposed to be a technology news site, but it’s totally overrun with the most intense leftists on the net I think. They literally quote DU threads as ‘news releases’ and they make it to the top of their story list.


50 posted on 07/30/2007 8:09:18 AM PDT by Tolsti
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To: Tolsti

Sounds like a scary place. Seeing that much ignorance all at once is sometimes simply too overwhelming.


51 posted on 07/30/2007 8:13:38 AM PDT by avacado
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To: RealTeen

Military Fatalities: By Month
Jan03 -— -—Jan04 52 -—Jan05 127 —1Jan06 64 -—Jan07 86
Feb03 -— -—Feb04 23 -—Feb05 66 -—Feb06 58 -—Feb07 84
Mar03 92 -— Mar04 52 -—Mar05 39 -—Mar06 33 -—Mar07 82
Apr03 80 -—Apr04 140 -—Apr05 52 -—Apr06 82-—Apr07 117
May03 41 -—May04 84 -—May05 88 —May06 79 —May07 131
Jun03 36 -— Jun04 50 -— Jun05 83 -—Jun06 63 -—Jun07 108
Jul03 49 —— Jul04 58 —— Jul05 58 ——Jul06 46 -—July07 77 as of 7/28
Aug03 43 -— Aug04 85 -—Aug05 85 -—Aug06 66 -—Aug07
Sep03 33 -— Sep04 77 -—Sep05 52 -— Sep06 77 -—Sep07
Oct03 47 -— Oct04 110 -—Oct05 99 -— Oct06 110 -—Oct07
Nov03 110 —Nov04 141 -—Nov05 86 -—Nov06 78 -—Nov07
Dec03 48 -— Dec04 76 -—Dec05 68 -— Dec06 115 -—Dec07

Iraqi Security Forces and Civilian Deaths
Jan-06 779 -— Jan-07 1802
Feb-06 846 -— Feb-07 1531 (3014)
Mar-06 1092-—Mar-07 1889 (2977)
April-06 1009—April-07 1679 (1821)
May-06 1119-—May-07 1980
June-06 870 -—June-07 1345
July-06 1280 -—July-07 1604 as of 7/28
Aug-06 2966 -—Aug-07
Sept-06 3539 -—Sept-07
Oct-06 1539 -—Oct-07
Nov-06 1864 -—Nov-07
Dec-06 1752 -—Dec-07

http://www.icasualties.org/oif/


52 posted on 07/30/2007 8:17:44 AM PDT by Buzzm1
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To: CatholicEagle
Your hopes are being realized partly. The Christians are being expansed out of Iraq as they are just about everywhere else in Muslim countries.

What you fail to note is the fact that for six years the continental USA has been free of another attack.
I’m watching the 2008 election start and at this point all I have to say (include the results of the 2006 changes) you as a nation have already forgotten what happened in September 2001.
You have a House and Congress playing politics with your collective safety.

Connect the dots, with respect to terrorists actions that happen against Americans worldwide before 9/11 and you will see what I mean.

The sad part is that in the cold North looking down at your brave nation there is nothing WE can do to prevent the election of a President that will continue on the path to complete the job! The Democratic front runner has a history of hating the people that put their lives on the line for your safety, the Armed Forces! Good luck we all go “down the tubes together” because once the alternative system rules all none believers make a choice, CONVERT or LOSE YOUR HEAD!

53 posted on 07/30/2007 8:34:21 AM PDT by Jocko from Canada
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To: enough_idiocy

Gosh, why get rid of the little moonbat?

Unless they violate the posting rules (which they can’t help, given the average leftist’s vocabulary), let ‘em stay to be ridiculed.


54 posted on 07/30/2007 8:41:26 AM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: RealTeen
Heresy!

You’ve got to wonder if these two will find themselves in a shallow grave in Arkansas.

55 posted on 07/30/2007 8:56:44 AM PDT by mort56
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To: TheLastTrueRepublican777

Trying to figure whether you are Reid, Pelosi, Kennedy, Murtha, Kerry or some other RAT.


56 posted on 07/30/2007 9:35:26 AM PDT by Loyal Buckeye
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To: TheLastTrueRepublican777

Welcome to FReeRepublic.com.

Are you Senator Lugar, Domenici or Hegel?


57 posted on 07/30/2007 12:21:08 PM PDT by neverdem (Call talk radio. We need a Constitutional Amendment for Congressional term limits. Let's Roll!)
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To: jveritas

BTTT


58 posted on 07/30/2007 12:24:13 PM PDT by 1035rep
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To: RedRover; TheLastTrueRepublican777
For some reason, "777" is favored by trolls as part of their screen names.

 

Upside down "L"  Loser, loser, loser ?

59 posted on 07/30/2007 12:34:08 PM PDT by 1035rep
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To: RealTeen

Since this appeared in the NYT, one has to ask, does “we” in the title refer to Al-Qaeda or the US? The former being the default assumption.


60 posted on 07/30/2007 12:38:08 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Bestowing kindness on the evil visits cruelty on the good.)
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