Newsweek: Bush's 'Model Iraqi City' In Peril

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032606B.shtml

Is This a Strategy For Success?
By Rod Nordland
Newsweek 03 April 2006 Issue

Washington's good news in Iraq isn't quite what it seems.

At last, President Bush had news he could use from Iraq. He devoted an entire speech in Cleveland last week to the story of how the town of Tall Afar was wrested from Qaeda control and has become a model for defeating the enemy. Praise came not just from the administration; CBS's "60 Minutes" ran a glowing segment on what had been accomplished under Col. H. R. McMaster and his Third Armored Cavalry. McMaster, author of a celebrated book, "Dereliction of Duty," a critical look at how the U.S. military and its leaders got it wrong in Vietnam, made the rounds of the airwaves about how they're now getting it right in Iraq. Tall Afar, said the president, "is today a free city that gives reason for hope for a free Iraq."

He showed off a letter to prove it. It was from the city's mayor to Gen. George Casey, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, calling American troops "our lion-hearted saviors." In Tall Afar last week, however, things weren't that clear-cut. U.S. troops were able to take a small group of American reporters on a foot patrol through several neighborhoods-rare these days in central and western Iraq, and unheard of in Baghdad. Iraqis along the way were full of praise for their liberators, many of whom they recognized by name. But just in case, two squads of heavily armed troops kept watch, front, rear and flanks, rifles at the ready, and wouldn't let the group linger more than a few minutes in any place; a helicopter gunship shadowed us overhead. In another part of town, police later reported that an insurgent mortar attack wounded six children. A second NEWSWEEK reporter, visiting Tall Afar independently, found other neighborhoods barricaded; Iraqi police warned that he might be killed by insurgents or their supporters if he went any farther.

- snip -

What it is, though, like so many places in Iraq now, is a city increasingly divided along sectarian lines. The neighborhoods we patrolled were largely Shia; those our reporter found barricaded and dangerous were mostly Sunni. "I'd say that zero percent of Bush's talk about Tall Afar is true," said Ahmed Sami, 45, a Sunni laborer. "They turned Shiite neighborhoods into havens, and Sunni neighborhoods into hells." Even in the Shia neighborhoods, people were far from satisfied. "This is all just an outdoor prison for us," said school teacher Abu Muhammed. "We can't even go as far as the market street up there." He gestured to the top of his road, where the Ottoman fortress that dominates the town is located (and which we couldn't visit due to a security scare, even though it holds the mayor's office). "We know the American Army and the Iraqi Army are working and doing their best," said Bakr Muhammed Bakr, a dressmaker whose shop, like most others on the streets, was open for business. "But what are they going to do, put a soldier in front of each Sunni house?"

To Sunnis, that's often what it seems like. "After the battle, resistance became very low, because the city was turned into a military camp," said a Sunni doctor at the Tall Afar General Hospital. In fact, at all times at least 3,000 Iraqi Army, police and U.S. soldiers are on duty inside the city, stationed at a welter of police stations and camps and on checkpoints. Most are Iraqis. They patrol by foot and vehicle constantly. Thousands more are at bases outside the city. Tall Afar's population is only 150,000. (As many as 100,000 people, mostly Sunni, fled during last year's fighting and most have not returned.) That's at least one armed man for every 50 residents, more if reinforcements are used. "That's a pretty high ratio," acknowledged MacFarland, "which is why the enemy is having a hard time. It would be pretty hard to replicate that in a city like Baghdad or Mosul."

MORE

There's nothing new under the sun.

First was the 60 Minutes piece, an obvious propaganda piece complete with a right wing Colonel making the case. This was delivered hot and steaming from the Pentagon PR room, as anyone with even a hint of sense could recognize. That it was followed by stories on Tel Afar on all the cable shows and throughout the print media only made it more clear: the Tel Afar story was choreographed Pentagon/ West Wing propaganda, and timed to coincide with the latest farcical Bush Push on Iraq, tra la la. So I was thinking the other day: maybe some real journalist should get into Tel Afar and actually, uh, I dunno, investigate the near orgasmic claims emanting from the White House. It was only a matter of time until someone did just that.

this disaster.

Yes, it was begging for a closer look. Please recommend.

the city will once again be a lawless war-zone before the wind has a chance to blow their tire tracks away. Just like Viet-Nam. Fight for ground, win it, give it right back again when they re-deploy. There just aren't enough boots on the ground to hold territory they've cleaned up. It's an insurgent game of "whack-a-mole" that we'll never win.

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Remember when bush touted RAMADI as his "model Iraq city"? The same city the US then bombed the crap out of.

bush is such a totally ignorant MFer. Amazing he's able to breathe on his own.

behind the facade it's chaos.

Maybe we should save time and bandwidth and just label all of these Bush/Cheney/Rummy pronouncements as another MAM. Then we know there is no need for any further discussion.

The followers ( right wing fanatical supporters ) can't get enough of the feel good stories Bush would have us all believing if we were robots AND fools. The 60 minutes piece was not even digestible, pure propaganda - bringing down al Qaeda, who wouldn't have been there in the first place if Bush never sent our children there to die. The speech in Cleveland mentions the word TERROR or TERRORIST 53 times. 53 Goddamn times! The message of course being Terrorists are everywhere out there and Bush will save us. There may be terrorists in the world who mean harm to people of all races, faiths and beliefs, but the most dangerous TERRORISTS occupy the White House. Since I'm on a roll, this interference in the Afghanistan situation with the convert to Christianity from Islam is a crock. Had this man converted to Buddhism or Hinduism or some other of thousands of religions or beliefs, we would have never heard of it. He would have been executed - end of story. Because he converted to Christianity - our savior, jesus bush, has made it an issue for the Pope and all of the world. It stinks.

if he had nothing to lie about he would make something up. He has to praise Tall Afar, it's the only thread there is for a "happy" Iraq.
IMPEACH and IMPRISON this war criminal and his gang that can't shoot straight. Rat bastard criminals.

Feel it, touch it, smell it: It's TAAS, Pravda and Izvestia all rolled up in one. It's the PR firm, Rove/Goebbels, bringing you the Iraqi smiley face news. Hey, I thought the mission was accomplished three years ago. }(

I recently was emailed the letter mentioned in the article. It came to me through my father, who had gotten it from a distant relative who is retired military. Curiously enough, I was reading Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman at the time. Professor Ehrman's book is a critical look at how the Gospels have changed down through the ages with insertions or deletions by scribes in an effort to counter heretical movements. (Great book, highly recommended.) In the book Ehrman outlined some of the techniques used by scholars to assess whether or not a passage has been inserted after the fact.

In this letter there is one paragraph which is the most effusive in praise of American troops. Unlike the other paragraphs, this one makes no reference to Allah. Granted I'm reading a translation, but the vocabulary and meter are wrong as well--though the most notable flaw is the deletion of references to Allah.

I don't doubt that most of the letter is genuine. That one passage, however, just goes clunk.

I guess, when you try to gild a lily, you should actually use gold.

Mike

CALLING A PIG A LAMB DOESN’T MAKE IT BLEAT!



Samarra, Tal Afar, Mosul, Fallujah, “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” Afghanistan, Iraq, all success stories that turned out to be a success??? NOT SO MUCH!!!



The Taliban have been back in Afghanistan for quite awhile though the return of the Taliban has been downplayed. The morality of the area has NOT changed, and if I was Abdul Rahman, I wouldn’t poke my nose outside the door. Hundreds have protested the decision to free Rahman. “Dead man walking” is closer to the truth!


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12022144/
“Clerics threaten to incite murder
Muslim clerics have threatened to incite Afghans to kill Rahman if he is freed, saying that he is clearly guilty of apostasy and deserves to die.

As Ayad Allawi, who lives in Iraq stated, "If this isn’t civil war than what is!” The reluctance of George, his brainwashed military, the media, and his Administration to admit the truth becomes more absurd with evidence to the contrary every day!

“Operation Swarmer” the photo op showcase for the Bush Administration has been discredited as no big deal, no resistance, and the insurgency left town. Tal Afar is a city where the people feel in jeopardy and not the “optimistic example” Bush claimed it was. In fact this morning the violence escalated in that so called peaceful area. The same happened with Samarra and Mosul!

“Mission Accomplished” was a premature quote in the alternate reality of BushWorld! Our soldiers' deaths are now 2323, with Iraqi citizens dropping like flies from violence daily.

The most flagrant deception is right here in our own country where George and the Administration write their own rules, stomp on the civil rights of American citizens, and use Pat Roberts and the Republican Guard to cover-up mistakes, block legitimate investigations, and abuse power with a one-party rule!

This is just one example from the Smirking Chimp web-site that makes our skin crawl with this corrupt Administration.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=25405&mode=nested&order=0

Our lawless Republican overlords: Bush signs bill that never passed Congress
Remember all this "how a bill becomes a law" stuff you learned back in grade school? You know, that 'congress passes a bill, president signs it' stuff? Pretty basic, right?

Well, it seems the Republicans were all out sick that day:
But last month, Washington threw all that old-fashioned civics stuff into a tizzy when President Bush signed into law a bill that never passed the House. The bill -- in this case, a major budget-cutting measure that will affect millions of Americans -- became a law because it was "certified" by the leaders of the House and Senate.

Hubert H. Humphrey once told us, “We can not use a double standard for measuring our own and other people’s policies. Our demands for democratic practices in other lands will be no more effective than the guarantees of those practiced in our own country!” AMEN!

CALLING A PIG A LAMB DOESN’T MAKE IT BLEAT! OINK!

Doesn't look to me like things are going that well in Tall Afar.