Comments on: Security Cordon to Ring Baghdad

By: Ruffles and Flourishes § Unqualified Offerings

Ruffles and Flourishes § Unqualified Offerings — Fri, 27 May 2005 02:31:37 +0000

[...] with “40,000 Iraqi troops” starting next week in a bid to secure the capital. (Via OTB.) My question is, why announce this in advance? Why not just do it and gain the element o [...]

By: mike

mike — Thu, 26 May 2005 23:45:20 +0000

I am baffled as well. Maybe they have tried everything else possible to stop/stem the violence and this is just another attempt.

The post about laughing at all the turning quotes of "turning another corner" is dead on. I have tried to be positve about our efforts there but am quickly getting jaded esp. looking at the harm it is doing to the military between recruiting, retention (w/o stop-loss) and the break-down/wear and tear on equipment.
Not to mention the whole price tag...

By: Jim Henley

Jim Henley — Thu, 26 May 2005 18:23:00 +0000

All the explanations I can come up with are bad, but I am notorious for my defeatism. I'd like to have some cockeyed optimist theories to balance mine out. Anyone?

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Thu, 26 May 2005 18:21:29 +0000

Jim,

The thought had occured to me as well. No idea.

By: Jim Henley

Jim Henley — Thu, 26 May 2005 18:06:28 +0000

Why announce it in advance? Why not just do it? Announce the morning it goes into effect?

By: legion

legion — Thu, 26 May 2005 17:55:30 +0000

Frankly, I think this signals something really, really bad. If the only way to provide any level of security to the freakin' capital city of the county is to build a "Baghdad Wall" and stick forty thousand troops on guard duty - what exactly does that say about security and stability in Iraq? The next time anyone talks about "turning a corner", I'm not even going to try to hide the laughing...