Startling Revelation: Iraq Surge Myth Debunked


		Startling Revelation: Iraq Surge Myth Debunked (Top Posts - Social/Legal - 100408) - - - The following, mentioned that "highly clas- sified operations" involving "newly devel- oped techniques and operations" are respon- sible for the drop in violence in Iraq. I suspect that it has to be something to do with a technological developement. Being that it's classified, I'll just leave it at that, as one can only wonder what that (or those) technologies might be, but that, not the surge, is what Bob Woodward credits, all but refuting McCain's political bluster that the surge caused the drop in violence. - - - Last night, on 'Real Time With Bill Maher', Bob Woodward made the following com- ments. Bill Maher: "... You're telling the world that it's not just because of the increased troops, it's because of what you call highly classified techniques ... that we have targeted our ene- mies over there, and somehow we get them ... Why did they tell you?" Bob Woodward: "... I have two years to work on it, and you have to get people to level with you, and people leveled with me and said 'Look, it's not the surge, if you look at the numbers and the very dramatic dropoff in violence, it's so sudden, something had to happen, and it turns out it's these highly classified operations which the White House in a statement after the book came out, did confirm and said there's newly developed techniques and operations and some day decades from day the story can be told. But that's really what's lowered vio- lence and brought about conditions in Iraq that are much more stable." - - - - - - Why Did Violence Plummet? It Wasn't Just the Surge. By Bob Woodward Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, September 8, 2008; Page A09 http://tinyurl.com/whyviolencedeclinediniraq - - - Excerpts: Beginning in the late spring of 2007, the U.S. military and intelligence agencies launched a series of top-secret operations that enabled them to locate, target and kill key individuals in groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni insurgency and renegade Shia militias, or so- called special groups. The operations incorporated some of the most highly classified techniques and information in the U.S. government. ... A second important factor in the lessening of vio- lence was the so-called Anbar Awakening, in which tens of thousands of Sunnis turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq and signed up with U.S. forces. ... A third significant break came Aug. 29, when mili- tant Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his power- ful Mahdi Army to suspend operations, including attacks against U.S. troops. ... [On Thursday, a Washington Post news story on "The War Within" reported the existence of the covert operations and stated that it was the most important of four factors in reducing the violence in Iraq.] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/war-within/ ... [On Saturday, a Washington Post report by Joby Warrick and Robin Wright provided a more de- tailed look at U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq. They reported that "fusion cells" of special forces and intelligence officers, using spycraft with sensors and cameras that can track targets, have captured or killed hundreds of suspected terrorists and their supporters in recent months.] http://tinyurl.com/hightechsolutiontoIraqcrisis Excerpt from that article: ... For the Joint Task Force, the CIA provides intelli- gence analysts and spycraft with sensors and cam- eras that can track targets, vehicles or equipment for up to 14 hours. FBI forensic experts dissect data, from cellphone information to the "pocket litter" found on extremists. Treasury officials track funds flowing among extremists and from govern- ments. National Security Agency staffers intercept con- versations or computer data, and members of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency use high- tech equipment to pinpoint where suspected ex- tremists are using phones or computers. Fusion cells remain one of the least-known aspects of U.S. operations in Iraq, U.S. officials said, but they have produced significant captures. ... - - - end excerpt - - - - - - Iraq war's total cost nearing Vietnam's price tag Posted 7/25/2008 7:49 PM http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-07-25-1859942572_x.htm - - - Excerpt: ... Here are the report's estimated costs of major wars, in 2008 dollars, and their costs as a per- centage of GDP in each of their peak years: [re-sorted from most expensive to least expensive] 1_World War II: $4.1 trillion; 35.8 percent 2_Post 9/11 operations: $859 billion; 1.2 percent 3_Vietnam War: $686 billion; 2.3 percent 4_Iraq war: $648 billion; 1 percent 5_Korean War: $320 billion; 4.2 percent 6_World War I: $253 billion; 13.6 percent 7_Afghanstian/Global war on terror: $171 billion; 0.3 percent 8_Gulf War: $96 billion; 0.3 percent 9_Civil War, Union: $45.2 billion; 11.3 percent 10_Post 9/11 domestic security: $33 billion; 0.1 percent 11_Civil War, Confederacy: $15.2 billion; GDP figure not available 12_American Revolution: $1.8 billion; GDP figure not available 13_War of 1812: $1.2 billion; 2.2 percent - - -