Bar charts say things are BETTER? Count the caskets, general.

[Rose Siding]

A day after losing 15 marines in fighting along the Euphrates River, the American military command here said Thursday that suicide attacks had declined as a result of its three-month campaign to stem the flow of foreign fighters coming down the river valley from Syria.

Brig. Gen. C. Donald Alston, chief spokesman for the American command, said 13 car bombings occurred in Iraq last week, only three of which were suicide bombings, the lowest weekly figures since the current counterinsurgency campaign in western Anbar Province began. The military regards car bombings, suicide bombings in particular, as a rough measure of foreign fighter activity because it contends that most of the suicide bombers are foreign militants.

"When I look at the bar charts, the statistics are a clear indication that the tempo of suicide attacks has decreased," General Alston said, noting that the percentage of car bombings involving suicide bombers was as high as 60 percent a few months ago. He expressed optimism that the flow of foreign fighters was ebbing. "This is not an expanding insurgency," he said.

http://nytimes.com/2005/08/05/international/05iraq.html

HOW do these people hold their heads up???:grr:

[madeline_con]

1. "This is not an expanding insurgency,"

Death throes, anyone?

[Ilsa]

2. I heard a similar quote followed by, "But the intensity of the

attacks is much greater than anything we've experienced since the fall of Baghdad." Fewer, but more deadly attacks could equal more caskets, Alston!

[Rose Siding]

3. It's all double talk, isn't it?

They are spinning as fast as they can -put us all through a course at the war college, if they could.

I read your earlier post:

Former generals interviewed on The NewsHour about the Marines
and Iraq. Still "connected" to Marine insiders. Trying not to sound grim. Said they get their mission and carry it out. One said he sees no evidence of a coherent strategy for occupying and later leaving Iraq.

Contrasted with this agenda driven swill, it has the clear bell-like ring of truth. :(

[Ilsa]

5. The retired Colonel and General on the Newshour

were very grim when discussing this. One said that the Anbar province needed twice as many troops (marines) to properly patrol the area to prevent re-emergence of insurgents. They spoke of the need for better land-based artillery equipment (those 14 Marines died in and amphibious assault vehicle) to patrol more efficiently with better protection, and the training not to overreact, which makes more enemies when the objective is to make more friends.

Yeah, it's all about the spin, isn't it? It all depends on which person you hear interviewed. These two gave what I thought was a very truthful assessment, and mentioned that the planners need to be careful not to make the same strategy errors that Westmoreland made for Vietnam.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

4. Uh yeah, they're staying alive while killing our troops.

Much better situation. :sarcasm: MKJ