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

Willing Suspension Of Disbelief?

By Jeff Jacoby Boston Globe Columnist / November 25, 2007

THE NEWS from Iraq has been so encouraging in recent months that last week even the mainstream media finally sat up and took notice.
Can the Democratic Party be far behind?

In a story titled "Baghdad Comes Alive," Rod Nordland reports in the current Newsweek on the heartening transformation underway in the Iraqi capital:

"Returning to Baghdad after an absence of four months," he writes, "I can actually say that things do seem to have gotten better, and in ways that may even be durable . . . There hasn't been a successful suicide car bombing in Baghdad in five weeks . . . Al Qaeda in Iraq is starting to look like a spent force, especially in Baghdad."

The signs of life, Nordland acknowledges "grudgingly" - his word - are undeniable.

"Emerging from our bunkers into the Red Zone, I see the results everywhere. Throughout Baghdad, shops and street markets are open late again, taking advantage of the fine November weather. Parks are crowded with strollers, and kids play soccer on the streets. Traffic has resumed its customary epic snarl. . . . The Shorja bazaar in old Baghdad, hit by at least six different car bombs killing hundreds in the last year, is again crowded with people among the narrow tented stalls. On nearby Al-Rasheed Street, the famous booksellers are back in business . . . People are buying alcohol again - as they always had in Baghdad, until religious extremists forced many neighborhood liquor shops to close."

Newsweek's isn't the only big media voice bringing tidings of comfort and joy from the Iraqi theatre.

On Tuesday, The New York Times led its front page with a good-news headline - "Baghdad Starts to Exhale as Security Improves" - and a large photo of an Iraqi bride and groom, bedecked in wedding finery and accompanied by a band. Below that: a picture of smiling diners at Al Faris, a restaurant on the Tigris riverbank that is booming once again. Inside, across four columns, another photo showed an outdoor foosball game in Baghdad's Haifa Street, once dubbed the "Street of Fear" because it was the scene of so many lethal sectarian attacks.

In another Page 1 story the day before ("U.S. Says Attacks in Iraq Fell to the Level of Early Last Year"), the Times recounted some of the auspicious data: civilian fatalities down 75 percent in recent months, Iraqi security-force casualties down 40 percent, total weekly attacks nationwide down nearly two-thirds since June.

The Los Angeles Times, too, fronted a story on the promising developments, reporting on an "unexpected flowering of sectarian cooperation" in which "Sunnis and Shi'ites are joining hands at the local level to protect their communities from militants." The results, reported the paper from the rural community of Qarghulia on Monday, "are palpable. Killings are down dramatically and public confidence is reviving."

Of course things could still change for the worse. In the Middle East there are few guarantees. Neither the US military nor the Bush administration plans to dust off that "Mission Accomplished" banner anytime soon.

Still: "By every metric used to measure the war," as The Washington Post editorialized on Nov. 18, "there has been an enormous improvement since January." The Post credits this achievement to American soldiers in Iraq, to General David Petraeus, "and to President Bush, for making the decision to launch the surge against the advice of most of Congress and the country's foreign policy elite."

With the media at last paying attention to the progress in Iraq, shouldn't leading Democrats think about doing the same? Perhaps this would be a good time for Hillary Clinton to express regret for telling Petraeus that his recent progress report on Iraq required "a willing suspension of disbelief" - in effect, calling him a liar. Perhaps Senate majority leader Harry Reid should admit that he may have been wrong to declare so emphatically: "This war is lost, and the surge is not accomplishing anything."

All of the Democratic presidential candidates have been running on a platform of abandoning Iraq. At the recent debate in Las Vegas, they refused to relax their embrace of defeat even when asked about the striking evidence of improvement. They continued to insist that "the surge is not working" (Bill Richardson), that "the occupation is fueling the insurgency" (Dennis Kucinich), and that the "strategy is failed" and we must "get our troops out" (Barack Obama).

Blind opposition to war that seems lost is understandable.
But can Democrats be so invested in defeat that they would abandon even a war that may be winnable?
With developments in Iraq looking so hopeful, this is no time to cling to a counsel of despair.

100,000s' of Iraqis Enthusiastically Return Home

Thanks to Amy Proctor for the story.

Iraqis who fled their country because of the war are returning by the hundreds of thousands to Iraq from Syria, Egypt and Jordan because of the improved security. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is providing the free bus and flight travel:

Residents welcome their relatives who have just returned from Syria after arriving in Baghdad November 21, 2007. REUTERS/Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud (IRAQ)

The return is dramatic. Baghdad has been transformed:

Iraqi refugees are returning home in dramatic numbers, concluding that security in Baghdad has been transformed. Thousands have left their refuge in Syria in recent months, according to some estimates.

The Iraqi Embassy is organizing a secure mass convoy from Damascus to Baghdad on Monday for refugees who want to drive back. Embassy notices went up around the Syrian capital yesterday, offering free bus and train rides home.

Saida Zaynab, the Damascus neighborhoods once dominated by many of the 1.5 million Iraqi refugees, is almost deserted. Apartment prices are plummeting and once-crowded shops and buses are half empty.

Syria has absorbed the lion’s share of Iraqi refugees since the US-led invasion and subsequent insurgency, with the rest going to Jordan, Egypt and other countries around the region. They, too, report a growing number of returnees.

Hussein Ali Saleh, the director of the National Theatre in Baghdad, who is staging Iraqi plays for refugees in Damascus, said that his audience was disappearing. A month ago the al-Najum theatre near the Syrian central bank building was filled with 400 Iraqis every night. Now barely 50 turn up.

“In the last month, 60 per cent of the Iraqis I know have returned,” he said. “The situation has been changed completely. They all want to go back. Even my own family back in Baghdad is telling me the situation is much better.”

Most Iraqis interviewed by The Times seemed enthusiastic rather than despondent. “Throughout history Baghdad has fallen many times but she always rose up again,” Abu Ibrahim said. “We all know this and that’s why we return. We return to rebuild Baghdad now.”

Someone needs to tell Harry Reid and John Murtha.

Thanks again to Amy for this great news from Iraq!

ABSOLUTE PROOF We are Winning the War

Want absolute ultimate irrefutable proof that the US military is winning in Iraq and that the big 'ol civil war is not a civil war after all?

Exhibit A: I direct you to Daily Kos, Okie Funk, Blue Oklahoma, Sooner Thought, Kittenstomper, JMBzine... or your own "favorite" local moonbat antiwar liberal blog for the pudding.

Scroll from top to bottom on their front page... (i did) you will find posts on the SCHIP, on Inhofe vs Rice, on Hillary, Joe Biden's life history, Rush Limbaugh, Fred Thopmson, Rudy, Mitt, New Boots, immigration laws, taxes, abortion, football, baseball, TV programs... in fact they have movedon.org to their next war- Iran ! lol...
...but not ONE WORD on the war in Iraq, civilian casualties, civil war, carbombs, lying Generals, the murdering US troops, torture, waterboarding, Bin Laden, insurgents, illegal occupations, Vietnam or even hardly any use of the word "war".

This can ONLY mean one thing.
They've got no bad news to write about, no leg left to stand on, no failures, no bad news from Iraq...and if there is no bad news to report from Iraq, then there is no news from Iraq.

This is good news for the rest of us Americans who support our troops and the war effort. Since about 15 minutes after the war started (the time it took to come up with their first lie)... we have been treated to hourly assaults on our military, the war effort, Bush, Iraqis, claims of civil war in Iraq and phrases like occupiers, defeat is eminent, victory is not possible, torture, murder....etc.etc.etc.etc... ~

But now THEY'VE GOT NOTHING... except the constant searching every day for that one scrap of crap to re-start their defeat machine... but for now, "they got nuttun".

So you can read about everything in the wide world of sports EXCEPT about Iraq at their blogs. On Iraq, Okie Funk writes...(cricket noise) and Sooner Thought adds (cricket noise) while the Daily Kos reports (cricket noise) and of course Blue Oklahoma is quick to point out (cricket noise) and Kittenstomper makes the case that (cricket noise).... across the liberal blogosphere the cry goes out...(cricket noise).

I submit this to you as 100% proof that in fact.... "Defeat is lost".
I also rest my case.

Unless you want to use the facts that violence and death in Iraq is down over 70%...yes, 70% since just a few months ago (June) , that AQI is "cutting and running", local Iraqis are working with US troops and each other to rid itself of AQI and other groups who had been trying to hijack their country, or that US military casualties are the lowest in over a year and the country is moving forward and their economy is growing.
OR the fact that I (Red S Tater) have even been able to write about other issues instead of constantly having to debunk liberal bunk, and even have some fun. (worst blog awards)

But numbers and actual data confuse the antiwar liberals.... so I refer you to back to Exhibit A.

Note: I posted no links in this post for a reason.
I shouldn't have to (nor will I) hold your hands and lead you over and make you drink...the truth. If you are really interested in the truth on the war, you can find it easily... if you want it.

I suggest starting with Engram at Backtalk for a good foundation from which to understand the war in Iraq laid out in logical order. The news media does not have the math skills to bring the story to you and you won't get it anywhere else.

Tempted to go on, that is the ONLY plug in this post other than the antiwar blogs I mentioned. Why mention them?
Well they are repackaged copies of moveon.org and daily kos.
Why is that important?
It has been proven that these blogs help create the lies that end up on the front pages of every liberal newspaper and every liberal news organization which is pretty much 99.999% of the papers and media ion the country.

So, if you use antiwar liberal blogs, mediamatters, the mainstream- drive-by, Al Qaeda-hugging news media as your sources of info, enjoy reading about everything BUT the war in Iraq.

Let's watch and see which one of them tries to cover their tracks and quickly get something posted to still claim otherwise....
-red