Iraq "Uptick," Superpower Downtick?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2005/04/uptick_downtick.html

Quote of the month (November, 1967)

"In November, as their plans gelled, General Westmoreland embarked on a whirlwind tour of the U.S. to testify before Congress and drum up support for the Johnson Administration. ‘With 1968,' he said, speaking before the National Press Club in Washington, ‘a new phase is starting .. we have reached an important point where the end begins to come into view.' In a televised news conference, he used the phrase ‘light at the end of the tunnel' to describe improved U.S. fortunes, repeating almost word- for-word a prognostication made by French General Henri Navarre in May of 1953." (General William Westmoreland, then Commander of American forces in Vietnam, announced that he saw the light at the end of the famed tunnel less than three months before the Vietnamese began their nationwide Tet Offensive. He was also known for saying, "The Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does the Westerner," a sentiment that undoubtedly helped account for the numbers of deaths we were willing to inflict in South Vietnam.)

Quotes of the month (March 2005)

"Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, said yesterday that the strength of the Iraqi insurgency is waning as a result of momentum from elections, and he predicted Iraqi security forces would be leading the fight against insurgents in most of Iraq by the end of 2005." (Ann Scott Tyson, Iraqi Insurgency Is Weakening, Abizaid Says, the Washington Post, March 2, 2005.)

" the top Marine officer in Iraq said Friday that the number of attacks against American troops in Sunni-dominated western Iraq and death tolls had dropped sharply over the last four months, a development that he called evidence that the insurgency was weakening in one of the most violent areas of the country." (Eric Schmitt, "Insurgency Loses Ground, Top Marine In Iraq Says," the New York Times, March 18, 2005)

"In the privacy of their E-ring offices, senior Pentagon officials have begun to entertain thoughts that were unimaginable a year ago: Iraq is turning the corner… ‘This is still a tough fight. We don't want anyone to think that it is not,' said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a military analyst who strongly supports Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. ‘But the momentum is in our direction…' A military source in Iraq declined to give raw number of attacks, but said, ‘There has been a decided downward trend in the number and lethality of attacks since the January 30 elections.'" (Rowan Scarborough, Pentagon begins to see Iraq momentum shift, the Washington Times, March 28, 2005.)

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[The_Casual_Observer]

1. But the momentum is in our direction

Too bad it's the momentum of an rpg launched at a convoy.

[NNN0LHI]

2. The really goes with the "are we winning" the war thread

Read it if you have a minute.

[Don