INSIDE THE SURGE HOW ORDINARY IRAQIS ARE TURNING THE TIDE OF WAR

New York Post ^ | 28 Oct 07 | MICHAEL YON

[elhombrelibre]

October 28, 2007 -- This week, the U.S. announced that military deaths in Iraq had fallen dramatically, to the lowest levels since March 2006, a sign that the surge of troops is working. Officers say increased cooperation from Iraqi civilians - who are tired of the terrorism and violence - has helped stem attacks.

This comes as no surprise to Michael Yon, a writer who has blogged from Iraq since 2004. Yon, who is supported by donations to his Web site (michaelyon-online.com), writes about his own observations on the ground this year, embedded with U.S. troops.

Statistics in reports about faraway places can blunt the reality of what those numbers mean. But when it is a bomb in a road you are about to drive on, it takes on a whole new cast, as I found yet again when I spent most of May in Anbar Province.

I visited a former labor camp nicknamed “Coolie Village," or what remained of it, after a truck bomb locals attributed to al Qaeda had flattened it. Not surprisingly, the anger and frustration in response to this mass murder helped the villagers overcome their fear of the thugs who had taken hold of their community.

[elhombrelibre]

The-inside-the-surge-story ping from Michael Yon in Iraq.

Remember: the Democrats worked feverishly to defeat Bush on Iraq without concern for the strategic consequences. Having failed to hand Iraq over to al Qaeda, they now set their sites on supporting Iran's mullahs in their quest for nuclear weapons. Our Democrats are on the wrong side of history as usual.

[RightOnline]

Wow.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Yes. We have several million SE Asians living in this country as a result of their previous handiwork.

[uncbob]

Well JFK established the president at The Bay Of Pigs

[Dilbert56]

A couple of statistics stand out:

September's losses were just over half of May's.

October's losses are about half of September's (fingers crossed).

Wounded in October looks like about one-third of September's.

Losses to non-hostile causes are about one-third of all deaths.

[PGalt]

Great post. Thanks for reporting, Michael Yon.

[pissant]

I thought I read that Yon was hired by CNN. Any truth to that?

[vbmoneyspender]

I think they had him subbing for Michael Ware while Ware was on vacation.

[pissant]

Talk about opposites. Ware deserves the gallows for his despicable reporting.

[MCH]

Awesome read. Highly recommended.

[freema]

Very informative, very good news.

[capitalist229]

US troops are no longer going door to door hunting down terrorists.

They have partnered with Iraqi neighborhoods which are keeping out the terrorists on their own.

Simple bold brilliant Petraeus

BUMP

[SShultz460]

Michael Yon has been unreal good. His writings and styles should be taught in schools of journalism.

[Zerodown]

Has it occurred to no one in the MSM that there just may be far fewer insurgents now than there were then? We, and the Iraqi forces, have been knocking the bastards off at a slow, but steady clip.

Not to mention that various tribal sheiks have been conducting their own operations against the bad boys. What worries me?

Well in my war, we knocked off the home-grown commie gang members, only to see a real, well organized army pour in with matching uniforms, weapons, knapsacks, tanks, trucks, and cute little canteens even! Are we going to see battalion strength Iranian/Syrian "volunteers" suddenly appear?

[bray]

The Surge has Worked and Victory is Here in spite of the rats.

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters

[edsheppa]

Democrats worked feverishly to defeat Bush on Iraq without concern for the strategic consequences.

But what is far worse IMO is that they'd sacrifice a whole nation just for political victory.

[jveritas]

No insurgency can survive without the support of the locals, once the Iraqi people and the Sunni Arabs in particular decided to turn against Al Qaeda terrorists it was all over for the terrorist insurgency in Iraq since our brave troops have been annihilating the terrorists at a much faster rate since then. Al Qaeda has been utterly deafeated in Iraq.

[Marine_Uncle]

We have a full year before any possible changes could be made as to how the Iraqi SASO is being conducted. If things continue to improve at this rate, then perhaps troop draw downs will become the normal routine, as has been public ally laid out a few months back.
Either way one looks at it, AQIR cannot continue to be a entity much longer the way things are shaping up. And Iran is liable to have it's teeth kicked in, in the near future. It is hard to imagine we would not do as much damage to any Quds ran installations if we went in to take out all their above and below nuclear and affiliated sites.
An issue that can be raised is how many Iraqi Shia would support Iranian paramilitary in their country. If the Iraqi Arab majority turned their heads if Iran where attacked, then things could really start to shape up in this portion of the ME. Including Lebanon. Syria would be totally isolated with not one friend of convenience, other then false hopes from the Russians.