Iraqis Crowd Churches For Christmas

FREEDOM RINGS...
Thousands attended Christmas services across Iraq today, many for the first time... certainly since the war started. The next time one of your smart-mouthed liberal friends mentions the war (most of them are afraid to nowadays), point them to this article (link below). The US is now being seen as liberators not occupiers and the Iraqis are experiencing the freedom that America has given them.
Merry Christmas to all Iraqis, Merry Christmas to all our troops.
God Bless you all.
Iraqis Crowd Churches for Christmas

In other news, General David Petraeus says violence is down 60% overall in Iraq, a trend he intends to continue to develop through 2008.
What say you now, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and the rest?
Do you claim he still a liar or were you the liars just 2 short months ago... when you proclaimed the war is lost, the surge can't work and Petraeus couldn't be trusted.
Just curious...
-red

Violent Crime In Iraq Reaches Yearly LOW

Thursday, 06 December 2007

Task Force Marne Public Affairs An Iraqi Policeman questions a citizen of the Mada’in Qada, during a criminal investigation. Photo by 59th Military Police Company. FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — Iraqi Police in the Mada’in Qada recently reported yearly lows for violent crime to officers of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team (HBCT). The 3rd HBCT deployed to Iraq in March in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and has operated in the qada, southeast of Baghdad, throughout the deployment. Iraqi Police in the qada forward crime statistics to their Coalition Force partners at the end of each month. The statistics are compiled by police officers at the five police stations throughout the qada. For November, Iraqi Police reported eight murders and five kidnappings. This is a significant drop from the yearly high in May of 37 murders and 22 kidnappings. “In 2005 the Mada’in Qada had 355 murders. In 2006 the qada had 631 murders. This year we expect to have about 290 murders,” said Maj. David Fivecoat, from Delaware, Ohio, 3rd HBCT operations officer. “The downward trend in murders is due to several reasons: the work of the Soldiers of the 3rd HBCT, the development of over 3,000 Concerned Local Citizens, and the continued improvement of the Iraqi Police. The decrease in murders is a key indicator that safety and security are returning to the qada. It is an encouraging sign for its 1.2 million residents.” Capt. Liz Cain, 59th Military Police Company commander, attributes the drop in crime to improvements in the Iraqi Police, security, and the economy. She further explained that Concerned Local Citizen groups have contributed to the improving security situation. “These individuals are not only taking a stand against terrorists, but also against lawless behavior within their communities,” Cain said. Mada’in Iraqi Police District Commander, Brig. Gen. Adnan Jamad Kathim said through a translator, “misdemeanor crime decreased 40 percent, improvised explosive device incidents decreased 66 percent and car bombings decreased 100 percent from October.” Cain believes Iraqi Police training is a significant factor in the criminal activity decrease in the qada as well. Dozens of Policemen have attended the Ministry of Interior (MOI) investigative courses in Baghdad. “Recently, many Iraqi Policemen have been educated on crime scene procedures and evidence collection,” she said. “They have come back from the MOI investigative course with the ability to piece a case together.” When evidence and paperwork is collected and taken to the judge, Cain said, a warrant is issued for the arrest, or if the individual is already detained, he is permitted to be held pending a trial date. “The completion of this process and the actual convictions and jailing of criminals have increased the population’s trust in the Iraqi Police and encourages them to call the police at the first sign of suspicious behavior,” Cain said. “This trust between the populace and the Iraqi Police has grown and they have become partners in fighting crime. We can expect the crime levels to continue to drop.” The 59th MP Company is currently attached to the 3rd HBCT. The 3rd HBCT, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga., has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March

Iraq Facts For Dummies

If it seems like too much 'work' to read the previous post on this, and you like pretty pictures... perhaps these 3 graphs will get through to you.
With much appreciation and thanks to Engram at Back Talk Blog.

First, let's define how you go about measuring "success".
John Murtha-"Are the incidents decreased? No. Have the civilian deaths gone down? No. Have the American deaths increased? Yes. That's the way you measure whether we're making progress."


Data from the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count (not a rightwing group)

Month-to-month data can be noisy, so here is a similar chart with each bar now representing the average of the last 3 months:


And what was it John Murtha said was the other measure of success...?


Again, what was it John Murtha said just a few months ago?

"Are the incidents decreased?"
"Have the civilian deaths gone down?"
"Have the American deaths increased?"
"That's the way you measure whether we're making progress."

Indeed, that is how you measure progress (not by "political benchmarks"), and that's why even he is now forced to admit that the troop surge is working:

WASHINGTON — No. 2 House Republican Roy Blunt challenged Democrats on Friday to pass a $50 billion war spending package, pouncing on new remarks by Democratic Rep. John Murtha who said, "I think the surge is working."

Gee, I wonder where he got a crazy idea like that?
Now maybe you would like to read the post below and get "the rest of the story"... or just stay in denial, your choice.

Casualties In Iraq: November 2007

It's time to check in on how that big 'ol civil war in Iraq is going since the Democrats and the Clinton News Network or the liberal blob-o-sphere sure won't talk about it.
Gee, I wonder why that is?

"History will record where the Democrats stood when Iraq was suffering through its darkest hour."

From Engram at Back Talk Blog:
Back in July, Wolf Blitzer interviewed left wing anti-war icon John Murtha. Here is some of what he had to say:

REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Nice to be with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: I'm going to play a little excerpt of what the president said earlier today and get your reaction. Listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: I don't think Congress ought to be running the war. I think they ought to be funding our troops. I'm certainly interested in their opinion. But trying to run a war through resolution is a prescription for failure as far as I'm concerned and we can't afford to fail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. What do you say to the president?

MURTHA: Well it's delusional to say the least. As I said earlier, and you heard me say it, it's a failed policy wrapped in illusion. Nothing's gotten better. Incidents have increased. We have had more Americans killed in the last four months than any other period during the war.
...
So, our troops are caught in a civil war. As I said over and over again, it can't be won militarily. There can only be a diplomatic effort. I think this surge is a perfect example where we aren't making any progress, and we've got to start to redeploy the troops as quickly as possible.
...
MURTHA: I don't acknowledge there has been any progress made. Maybe in Baghdad. But it just breaks out someplace else. We called for extra troops two years ago. We put money in for 30,000 troops. They haven't even been able to raise the 30,000 troops they have. So they have to break all their guidelines. But there's no progress being made. And the way you measure it is, is the security itself.

Are the incidents decreased? No. Have the civilian deaths gone down? No. Have the American deaths increased? Yes. That's the way you measure whether we're making progress.

That's the way you measure progress? You don't say.

Other Democrats were equally prophetic:

"The surge was supposed to bring stability.... It hasn't and it won't," Ted Kennedy said on May 1. "The evidence is clear it is not happening and it will not happen," Dodd said May 15 of a potential American victory. Durbin said the day after: "This Senate knows that the administration's policy in Iraq has failed." Senator Joseph Biden agreed. "The surge has not worked and will not work," he said on June 1. And in a joint letter to the president on June 13, Reid and Pelosi said, "As many had foreseen, the escalation has failed to produce the intended results."
...
As Harry Reid put it on July 9, "Democrats and military experts and the American people know the president's current strategy is not working and we cannot wait until September to act." As Dianne Feinstein put it, "Today, a majority of the Senate sees that the surge is not working. ... Do we change course now or do we wait until September... I believe the answer is clear."

Hillary Clinton also weighed in and had this to say:

WASHINGTON — Senator Clinton squared off yesterday with her possible challenger for the White House in 2012, General David Petraeus, and came closer than any of her colleagues to calling the commander of the multinational forces in Iraq a liar.

Using blunter language than any other Democrat in the last two days, Mrs. Clinton told General Petraeus that his progress report on Iraq required "a willing suspension of disbelief."

Those are your liberal leaders characterizing the effectiveness of the troop surge -- the very people you think should be in charge of national security. And their point was not merely that the surge wasn't working. They wanted everyone to also know that, in their expert opinion, the surge would never work.

Were they right? Here is my monthly tally of civilian casualties in Iraq based on the data at Iraq Coalition Casualty Count (with necessary corrections described here):


As always, the black bar shows when al Qaeda finally succeeded in provoking the Shiite militas to start killing Sunnis (in an effort to stop al Qaeda's suicide bombers). The dark purple bars show the months during which the surge began to unfold (in February) and then became operational (in June). As you can see, civilian casualties plummeted in September, then they dropped even further in October, and now they have dropped still further in November. In fact, casualties dropped even more than this chart suggests. In November, there were only 3 incidents involving more than 15 civilian casualties. Two of those involved 30 casualties each, and neither incident actually occurred in November. In both cases, mass graves of decomposed bodies were discovered. These people had been killed by al Qaeda savages in earlier months, so it would not be unreasonable to take another 60 deaths off the already low November total.

Month-to-month data can be noisy, so here is a similar chart with each bar now representing the average of the last 3 months:


As al Qaeda has been routed in Iraq, and as former Sunni enemies join our cause, U.S. military deaths from hostile fire have also plummeted:


Remember the words of liberal anti-war icon John Murtha:

"Are the incidents decreased? No. Have the civilian deaths gone down? No. Have the American deaths increased? Yes. That's the way you measure whether we're making progress."

Indeed, that is how you measure progress (not by "political benchmarks"), and that's why even he is now forced to admit that the troop surge is working:

WASHINGTON — No. 2 House Republican Roy Blunt challenged Democrats on Friday to pass a $50 billion war spending package, pouncing on new remarks by Democratic Rep. John Murtha who said, "I think the surge is working."

I'm frankly amazed that al Qaeda has not been able to pull off a single spectacular mass-casualty attack for 3 straight months. They are undoubtedly highly motivated to do so, in part because they know that Democrats in Washington are veritable puppets on a string. Does that sound harsh? It doesn't to me. Harry Reid's declaration of America's ignominious defeat in Iraq came in direct response to this attack by al Qaeda on innocent Shiite civilians in Baghdad:

Suspected Qaeda bombs kill nearly 200 in Baghdad

Wed Apr 18, 2007

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Suspected al Qaeda militants killed nearly 200 people in a wave of car bombings in Baghdad on Wednesday, including one that was the single deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Here is Harry Reid's response the very next day:

Iraq war is 'lost': US Democrat leader

Apr 19

The war in Iraq "is lost" and a US troop surge is failing to bring peace to the country, the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Congress, Harry Reid, said Thursday.

"I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Reid told journalists.

In other words, al Qaeda commits an atrocity, and the Democrats immediately call for surrender -- right on cue and in exact accordance with al Qaeda's nefarious plan. While behaving in that manner, the Democrats also repeatedly and eerily denied that al Qaeda was a significant factor in Iraq. To them, it was all just a big ol' civil war based on ancient hostilities between Shiites and Sunnis. Here is Democratic Presidential candidate Christopher Dodd nicely summing up the creepy Democratic stance that has been in effect for the last several years:

Again, this is a civil war going on in Iraq. This is not the United States versus Al Qaida. It's Shia versus Sunnis tearing each other apart. It's gone on for centuries, but particularly here right now.

All Democrats and most Americans actually believed this nonsense. And, of course, the mainstream media (especially, New York Times, of course) bent over backwards to explain how simplistic Bush was being for emphasizing the indisputable fact that we were at war with al Qaeda in Iraq:

July 13, 2007
Bush Distorts Qaeda Links, Critics Assert

By MICHAEL R. GORDON and JIM RUTENBERG

BAGHDAD, July 12 — In rebuffing calls to bring troops home from Iraq, President Bush on Thursday employed a stark and ominous defense. “The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq,” he said, “were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th, and that’s why what happens in Iraq matters to the security here at home.”

It is an argument Mr. Bush has been making with frequency in the past few months, as the challenges to the continuation of the war have grown. On Thursday alone, he referred at least 30 times to Al Qaeda or its presence in Iraq.

But his references to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and his assertions that it is the same group that attacked the United States in 2001, have greatly oversimplified the nature of the insurgency in Iraq and its relationship with the Qaeda leadership.

And that wasn't all. The Times also weighed in with this:

Seeing Al Qaeda Around Every Corner

By CLARK HOYT
Published: July 8, 2007

AS domestic support for the war in Iraq continues to melt away, President Bush and the United States military in Baghdad are increasingly pointing to a single villain on the battlefield: Al Qaeda.
...
“Nobody knows how many different Islamist extremist groups make up the insurgency” in Iraq, said Anthony H. Cordesman of the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Even when you talk about Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the idea of somehow it is the center of the insurgency is almost absurd.”

You see, it's all much more complicated than that cowboy in the White House can appreciate with his alcohol-addled brain, and that's precisely why the troop surge is destined to fail. Liberals, whose brains are uniquely able to appreciate complexity and nuance, fully understood that failure was the only possible outcome. And they were only too happy to tell you all about it.

How quickly things can change. The entire left (i.e., virtually all Democrats and their comrades in the mainstream media) are mystified by the dramatic reduction in violence that we've seen in Iraq over the last 3 months. If al Qaeda was not a factor -- that is, if it really was just a big ol' civil war -- how it could it be that turning the Sunni tribes against al Qaeda coupled with a troop surge offensive directed at al Qaeda achieved such spectacular success? It's incomprehensible. And make no mistake about it: offensive operations associated with the troop surge were directed at al Qaeda according to this interview with the man himself (i.e., with General Petraeus):

What is your priority in the surge operation?

"It is to disrupt al-Qaeda and its ability to conduct sensational attacks and to try to continue the cycle of violence, which they have been trying to do all along. In addition, they are attempting try establish a real al-Qaeda sanctuary in Iraq, a caliphate."

What about the leadership in Iraq?

"It is still led by foreigners called al-Qaeda Senior Leadership (AQSL). Our assessment is that this is the central front for al-Qaeda. They have a global war of terror, and Iraq is the central front. Whether you like it or not. That is something that the leaders of the intelligence community in the West and our joint special operations commander agree on and that is why he is here two thirds or three quarters of his time. It is certainly one very important consideration in looking at Iraq."

Democrats who denied all of this are now bewildered by the dramatic turnaround in Iraq. Despite being wrong about everything, you can be sure that they will now knowingly explain how the incredible improvement in Iraq has nothing at all to do with (a) the troop surge, (b) George Bush or (c) our apparent victory over al Qaeda. Instead, the remarkable progress was achieved because [INSERT LIBERAL FANTASY HERE].

Had the Democrats gotten their way, we'd undoubtedly be witnessing more than 1000 extra civilian deaths per month. It's ironic that people who think of themselves as being especially "decent" progressives were openly advocating that we simply stand back and permit genocide of innocent Iraqis. In effect, that's what they angrily demanded, but I doubt they will be able to assimilate that painful reality into their self image. Instead, they'll concoct a fantasy according to which the reduction in casualties would have happened in the absence of the troop surge (despite the fact that they explicitly predicted the exact opposite, as documented above), or they'll express absolute certainty that this is merely a temporary break in the action (even though they have already proven their inability to predict what will happen in Iraq). But the painful and inescapable truth is that they openly supported a plan to stand back and allow genocide to unfold before the horrified eyes of the world, and they knew exactly what they were doing. Being the decent people they are, they felt OK about it because they knew the blame would be placed on Bush. They were right about that, of course, but that doesn't excuse them for what they did. The American public may never awaken to all of this (because of the media we have), but if the success continues -- and no one can say for sure that it will -- history will record where the Democrats stood when Iraq was suffering through its darkest hour.

Posted by Engram at 12/01/2007 07:25:00 AM

-Lifted and reposted in it's entirety with glee by red s tater 12/02/07

US Turns Mosul Int'l Airport Over To Iraqis

Occupiers or Liberators?
Ninewa, Nov 26, (VOI) – Four years after being converted into a U.S. military base, Mosul International Airport will soon reopen for civilian flights and will launch its first flight for pilgrims traveling to the holy land in Saudi Arabia.

Ninewa Governor Darid Muhammad Kashmola told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) that preparations are underway to reopen Mosul airport and indicated that the inaugural flight will carry pilgrims to Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
In a phone call with VOI, Nour al-Din al-Hayali, a member of parliament from the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), said that he had committed himself to raising the issue of the Mosul airport in the Iraqi parliament. "This structure is Mosul's lungs and vital artery for local resident who are willing to travel to Baghdad and abroad, especially given the current difficult circumstances facing road transport," al-Hayali indicated.
Meanwhile, the media director in Mosul said that preparation work on the road leading to the airport and the terminals will soon be completed. "Work includes a project to line the road with trees, which we embarked upon on Saturday," the director added.
An official source from the Iraqi Airways, the national airline of Iraq, said that preparations are in their final stages. "Extra electricity lines and X-ray scanners have been installed, and a new staff has been appointed," according to the source.
Moreover, several meetings were held between the Hajj (Pilgrimage) Authority and Iraqi Airways to coordinate pilgrimage flights, scheduled to start on December 2, 2007.
Iraqi Airways is currently updating the airport's construction and equipment, including the terminals, watchtowers and other facilities, the source added.
Established in the 1950s in southern Mosul, the airport operated civilian flights until 2003, when the Multi-National Force (MNF) turned it into a military base. Only recently has the U.S. forces made the decision to hand it over to Iraqi authorities.
Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Oklahoman Helps Net al Qaeda Weapons Smuggler

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — Soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, captured 13 suspected insurgents during a nighttime air assault mission in Sayafiyah, a small village outside of Salman Pak, Nov. 24.

One of the detainees was a high value individual (HVI), who was a member of al-Qaida in Iraq wanted for weapons smuggling and financing attacks on Coalition forces in Salman Pak and Al Ja’ara.

“According to our intelligence, the insurgent we apprehended was an expert bomb maker and VBID (vehicle borne improvised explosive device) maker,” said 1st Lt. Matthew Barwick, from Lanham, Md., fire support officer for Co. B. “By apprehending him, we have taken a very dangerous person off the streets and made the area safer.”

During the course of the operation Co. B Soldiers cleared eight houses and barns while searching for the suspects.

“The operation went perfectly,” said Spc. Lyle Johnson, from Comanche, Okla., an indirect fire specialist in Co. B. “We cleared all of our objectives and got the No. 1 HVI and 12 of his partners. We did all of this without firing a shot, so I’d say it was a good operation.”

The 1-15th Inf. Regt. is part of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga., and has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March.

(By Spc. Ben Hutto, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs)

In Other Recent Developments Here:

MOSUL — The Qayyarah Bridge, which spans the Tigris River in Iraq’s Nineveh Province, was repaired and opened to traffic just three days after a section was destroyed by a truck bomb, Nov. 23.

BAGHDAD — Based on a tip from a concerned citizen, Iraqi Security Volunteers in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah District led Soldiers from 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division to a building containing a large weapons cache, Nov. 24.

Questions For The Antiwar Crowd

Questions for the anti-war Democrats, liberals etc.
Now is the time to start asking your liberal anti-war friends and every other anti-war moonbat you can find, a few questions.

1- How is that big 'ol "civil war" going?
2- Have you sent in your apologies to George W Bush yet?
3- How about your apologies to General David Petraeus?
No... okay then try this one on for size.

Now that the troop surge in Iraq is considered a "spectacular success", are you happy for the US military, America and the innocent Iraqis you claim to care about?
Since nearly 1/2 of all Democrats polled (poll results below) indicated that they hoped the US failed in Iraq (or didn't care) we should find out exactly how they feel now that the US didn't fail, but instead it is Al Qaeda that is failing big-time.
Are you glad or sad?

The moonbat liberal antiwar bloggers have refused to even mention Iraq or the war for the past few weeks, instead writing about virtually everything else on the planet EXCEPT for the successes over the past 2 months now.

So, how does it feel to be on the losing side (again)?
I'm curious.

Oh, you still don't believe it?
Then by all means... click HERE.
Then figure out a way to spin these facts into defeat and get back to me... or figure out your apology, it's one or the other.
Here are a couple of facts for you to chew on in the meantime. (lovingly lifted from Engram at Back Talk)
1- The Iraqi Body Count numbers that Hillary said were going UP in September.



2- If the monthly numbers are too "noisy" then look at the 3month average numbers.



Engram correctly asks ""Senator Clinton, in light of recent casualty figures from Iraq, will you now apologize to General Petraeus for insinuating that he was misleading the nation when he testified that the troop surge was having a dramatic effect on violence in Iraq"?

Note: "In September, al Qaeda's suicide bombers killed only 75 civilians. In October, it was 75 again. In August, the number was closer to 600, and it was high (though not quite that high) in the months before that as well. But the number of civilians killed by suicide bombers has simply plummeted, and that means that, for the moment anyway, al Qaeda is losing to the United States of America".

3- Care to comment on US casualties?



How did you feel about supporting the troops again?



4- But what about violence in Baghdad you ask?



5- Need more specific details?



Now before you go scurrying off to try and find something...anything... a death of some kind to prove the big 'ol civil war is raging on... remember that someone killed somebody in Detroit and every other major city in the US today... are we in a civil war too?

Engram finishes this brilliant piece with this...

"Never forget that National Intelligence Estimate that Democrats excitedly leaked because it said that our invasion of Iraq was inspiring foreign jihadists to take up the fight there. That NIE also said this:

Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight.

Indeed. George Bush's troop surge is creating the impression that the jihadists have failed in Iraq. Not bad for the "worst president ever."

Apologies now being accepted or you can post them on your anti-war moonbat blogs...if you have the integrity and guts to do so.
However, I personally doubt that you have either, integrity or guts.