Carnac Predicts "Bloody Summer in Iraq"

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Really going out on a limb here!

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Bush predicts bloody summer in Iraq
By Steve Holland Thu May 24,

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
President George W. Bush on Thursday predicted a bloody summer in Iraq for U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians, saying he expected insurgents and al Qaeda to step up attacks to try to influence the U.S. debate over how long to stay in Iraq.

The U.S. House of Representatives broke a four-month deadlock with Bush on Thursday night and approved $100 billion in new funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without a timetable for withdrawing combat troops. The bill now goes to the Senate for expected approval this week.

Despite the deployment of tens of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops in a major U.S.-led security crackdown, attacks have continued unabated.
CONT.


Six more U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq
By Paul Tait

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military announced on Friday the deaths of six more soldiers in Iraq, hours after U.S.
President George W. Bush predicted a bloody summer lay ahead.

Five of the soldiers died on Thursday while another was killed on Tuesday by a roadside bomb in Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, the military said.

April was the worst month this year for the U.S. military since the invasion to topple
Saddam Hussein in 2003, with 104 soldiers killed. About 90 have been killed in May so far.

The total death toll for U.S. troops since the invasion now stands at 3,440.


Spc. Joseph Merchant, 22, from Detour, Md. of 2nd platoon, Delta company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division walks along a canal as they continue their search for two missing comrades twelve days after a May 12 attack that left four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi soldier dead and three comrades missing in Quarghuli village near Youssifiyah, 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, May 24, 2007. On Wednesday, Iraqi Police discovered the body of one of the soldiers, Pfc. Joseph Anzack, Jr. in the Euphrates river. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

The U.S. military has deployed thousands of extra troops around Baghdad and other areas in a last-ditch attempt to drag Iraq back from the brink of all-out sectarian civil war between majority Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs dominant under Saddam.

The crackdown is an attempt to buy time for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government to meet political benchmarks set by Washington, including a revenue-sharing oil law, aimed at promoting national reconciliation.

Bush told a news conference in Washington on Thursday he expected heavy fighting in Iraq in the weeks and months ahead.

He predicted insurgents and Sunni Islamist al Qaeda would try to influence the U.S. debate on the war by launching major attacks before General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, hands him a progress report in September.

"It could be a bloody -- it could be a very difficult August," Bush told reporters.

A CBS News/New York Times poll said 76 percent of Americans thought the war was going badly for the United States.

One of the fiercest critics of the U.S. presence in Iraq, influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, made his first public appearance since the crackdown began when he attended Friday prayers in the holy city of Kufa.
CONT.

[Bronco Bob]

Blatent CYA by Bush. If things go to hell, it's what he predicted.
If thing go well, it's proof his plan is working.

[TailgateNut]

"It could be bloody" is like saying "fire could be hot". When will they realize that the longer we are there, the bloodier it will get. It doesn't take genius to see the trend.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by TailgateNut

"It could be bloody" is like saying "fire could be hot". When will they realize that the longer we are there, the bloodier it will get. It doesn't take genius to see the trend.

Straight line analysis is rarely a very good play.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Bronco Bob

Blatent CYA by Bush. If things go to hell, it's what he predicted.
If thing go well, it's proof his plan is working.

If your only benchmark is the level of violence, you put the keys to victory in the hands of our enemy. It is well publicized that we will be evaluating the surge in September (give or take a few weeks). Just like an announced timeline, this gives insurgents the message that all they have to do is surge the violence as that date approaches even if that's not an effective long-term strategy. The evaluation of the surge and the corresponding change in strategy, has to be more sophisticated than that. Factors like the way the tribal leaders in Anbar have turned on al Qaeda have to be included (as a positive IMO) in the mix even though that conflict is adding to the total level of violence.

[TheDave]

Originally Posted by patteeu

If your only benchmark is the level of violence, you put the keys to victory in the hands of our enemy.

JMO but there are no keys to victory... It's a civil war between 3 groups that have hated each other for a long, long time. Again, JMO but you find some orderly way of pulling the troups out and start spinning this story for the history books.

Rid the world of an evil dictator...Check

Liberated the people of iraq from said dictator...Check

Planted the seeds of democracy for the people...Check

Mission accomplished... errr... scratch that last part.

[TailgateNut]

Originally Posted by patteeu

If your only benchmark is the level of violence, you put the keys to victory in the hands of our enemy. It is well publicized that we will be evaluating the surge in September (give or take a few weeks). Just like an announced timeline, this gives insurgents the message that all they have to do is surge the violence as that date approaches even if that's not an effective long-term strategy. The evaluation of the surge and the corresponding change in strategy, has to be more sophisticated than that. Factors like the way the tribal leaders in Anbar have turned on al Qaeda have to be included (as a positive IMO) in the mix even though that conflict is adding to the total level of violence.

The key is that "they can increase the level of violence at will", which in itself is evidence of a lost cause.
Please tell me how this situation and our response is any different than Vietnam.

[Rohirrim]

I see that Sadr has come out of the shadows and is starting to make his move. Why **** around? Might as well just hand him the keys to the kingdom. He's going to have them soon enough anyway. Oh, and Exxon can go ahead now and start imagining all of their mythical oil contracts circling the toilet - because that's where they're headed. Bush can add to his resume, "Created a new ayatollah in Iraq."

You know what's the really pathetic part of this? Bush will have more American soldiers die to cover his chicken hawk ass, and when the next president finally does pull our forces out, Sadr's militias will go in and wipe Al Queda's foreign fighters in Iraq off the map, tout de suite.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by TheDave

JMO but there are no keys to victory... It's a civil war between 3 groups that have hated each other for a long, long time. Again, JMO but you find some orderly way of pulling the troups out and start spinning this story for the history books.

Rid the world of an evil dictator...Check

Liberated the people of iraq from said dictator...Check

Planted the seeds of democracy for the people...Check

Mission accomplished... errr... scratch that last part.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]