Comments on: At Least 53 Dead in Suicide Bombing Attacks in Iraq

By: Bandit

Bandit — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:51:16 +0000

Always resort to name calling when you can't refute the truth.

By: anjin-san

anjin-san — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:37:30 +0000

Something for the Dems to cheer about.

Moron.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:40:59 +0000

There was a bombing in China and in India during the previous week. Do those represent a failure of the surge? A crazy guy walked into a church last Sunday and shot up the place, killing a couple of people. Do these always mean a policy failure or just a homicidial act?

BTW, I would expect we will see these type of attacks become more frequent in the 8 weeks prior to US elections.

By: Bandit

Bandit — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:31:40 +0000

Something for the Dems to cheer about.

By: Hal

Hal — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:57:33 +0000

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the distinction you are drawing. It does seem like there's an awful, awful lot of opportunity, doesn't there? And it's kind of weird to hear someone say that these attacks are going to be endemic to Iraq for the foreseeable future. Bizarre. Still, the surge worked, right?

By: Tlaloc

Tlaloc — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:06:46 +0000

I think it's rather more likely that these are attacks of opportunity (the religious festival; a political demonstration) and those will be endemic in Iraq for the foreseeable future.

How's that different than what we had before the surge? Seems like we had various attacks of opportunity (the Golden Mosque being the biggest example)which promoted an environment of chaos and reprisals.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the distinction you are drawing.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:46:34 +0000

I think it's rather more likely that these are attacks of opportunity (the religious festival; a political demonstration) and those will be endemic in Iraq for the foreseeable future.

By: Tlaloc

Tlaloc — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:28:46 +0000

The question occurs, of course, as to whether this represents an anomaly in post-surge Iraq or a sign that the peace is a tenuous one.

I suspect that it indicates that putting an extra 30,000 troops in the country can help hold down attacks- until you pull them back out.

Now that the surge is officially over I'd be very surprised if we didn't see the numbers start drifting upwards again. Maybe not to 2005 levels (particularly if Sadr's truce continues) but higher nonetheless.

By: steve

steve — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:26:26 +0000

The Kurds are pretty determined to never face another mass killing like they did in the 80's. While they have been our best ally, I find it hard to believe they will ever willingly give up their militia. I think its still possible they may make a push for independence.

Steve