Comments on: Anbar Progress Spreads to Diyala

By: legion

legion — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:11:19 +0000

Over/under on how soon Anbar goes back to being a hellhole as the shooters from Diyala move there?

The thing about playing whack-a-mole is that there are always more moles than you have hammers.

By: tylerh

tylerh — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:08:48 +0000

Alex,

I think you have a point, but this can still be progress.

If you look at the areas where we are claimed to be making progress, they are pretty much the areas I also assumed were the best sites for long term bases: thinly populated areas controlled by Sunni tribes with no real affection for whichever strongman is currently building palaces and bunkers along the Tigris.

I am not sure the White House has caught on, but I think this whole "surge" strategy is really the Pentagon laying the groundwork for the base security when the US inevitably does what the Brits have already done in Basra: pull back to a well-protected bases and let the locals sort it out amongst them selves.

By: Alex Knapp

Alex Knapp — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:12:44 +0000

And how much are we paying the forces in Dialya to not attack us? Less or more than we're paying the Sunnis in Anbar?

By: Tlaloc

Tlaloc — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:54:51 +0000

I think we're up to a dodecahedron, given the number of turned corners.

Which is a smart ass way to say I'll believe it when I see it.