This thread discusses the Content article: Bush says Iraq outcome will 'merit the sacrifice'

"The White House signaled anew that additional troops won't be pulled out soon..."

"One option that has found favor in the Pentagon is for Bush to announce in April a relatively brief pause in troop reductions beyond July, without saying when or at what pace further cuts will be made..."

"Security has improved there, credited largely to the increase in U.S. military might last year. But the pace of political progress has exasperated U.S. lawmakers and military leaders.

The U.S. has about 158,000 troops in Iraq. That number is expected to drop to 140,000 by summer. "

When the surge first started and began to show some initial "success" (success being defined as a reduction in US troop deaths) my prediction was that we would not know if there was really any success until those troops came out. For example, crime will go down on a street corner if the city increases police presence there. The real question, however, is what happens when the police presence is removed? Only then does one know if the reduction was real or illusory.

That is what we are seeing right now in Iraq. One brigade has already left, and we have been seeing violence inch back up in the last few weeks. The 140,000 troops left in Iraq by summer will still 20,000 more than when the surge began! Never mind that this "success" has been accomplished not only by a big US presence, but by "making friends" with those (Sunni and Shiite insurgents) who have been shooting at us in the past, paying them not to fight each other, and giving them arms to supposedly fight al Qaeda. Kinda like feeding a rattlesnake and telling it to bite the other guy. The chance of that working long term is, oh, about zero. Sooner or later, it will revert to its base instinct and bite the hand that feeds it.

The next few months are certainly going to be interesting. Here's my prediction. As more troops leave, violence goes right back up, perhaps even to pre-surge levels. One thing almost goes without saying, though. Don't look for the Iraqi's to make much progress on the political front. The forecast there is for more bickering.

And this just off the wire...

BAGHDAD - Iraqi forces clashed with Shiite militiamen Tuesday in the southern oil port of Basra and gunmen patrolled several Baghdad neighborhoods as followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered a nationwide civil disobedience campaign to demand an end to the crackdown on their movement.

Explosions rang out across central Baghdad as rockets or mortars fired from Shiite areas targeted the U.S.-protected Green Zone for the second time this week.

The violence was part of an escalation in the confrontation between the Shiite-run government and al-Sadr's followers — a move that threatens the security gains achieved by U.S. and Iraqi forces. At least 22 people were killed in the Basra fighting.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

The uneasy truce Patraeus forged appears to be cracking at the seams. Just in time for us to pull more surge troops out, because their rotations are up.

Or will Bush simply increase rotation times from 15 months to 18 months and keep them there? He's already increased it once before, from 12 to 15 months.

There were no parades in Baghdad this week to celebrate the anniversary of 'liberation'. Five years after the globalist firing of Saddam, it remains the most dangerous city, in the most dangerous country on earth. Its population has scant reason for celebration - or gratitude. True, the 'surge' may be working in the short term but Iraq's infrastructure is shattered, its oil industry paralysed, corruption is rife, and hundreds of thousands have been murdered in the carnage.

The only reason the American "surge" appears to be working is because the Iranian-controlled Shi'ite cleric, al-Sadr, ordered his Mahdi Army to observe a unilateral ceasefire. Just weeks ago, that ceasefire was extended. The only reason the surge appears to be working is because the most powerful insurgent army stopped shooting.

Today, Americans have totally lost their freedoms and Constitutional guarantees -- on paper. Once the political situation calls for these draconian laws to be implemented, they will be applied all across the board, and history's most severe dictatorship will have begun.

None of these drastic measures could have occurred without the globalists deliberately plunging America, Great Britain, and much of the rest of the world, into the chaos of terrorism and continual war. Freemasons believe that they can bring their Order only out of Chaos, so they manage the chaos expertly. The tragedy is that most of the citizenry has no idea what is happening and why. When they face chains, most of them will wonder what hit them!

What did Adolf Hitler say? "What luck for rulers that men do not think".

.


"NEW UP DATE"

As of 10:10 AM in Utah, March 25th, 2008 there has been 4,000 confirmed deaths of U.S. men or women in the Iraq War..


NOTE: These are REAL PEOPLE not just Numbers!!!


As of 10:10 AM in Utah, March 25th, 2008, America has spent over
$505,527,800,000.00 That's Over FIVE HUNDRED and FIVE BILLION, FIVE HUNDRED and TWENTY SEVEN MILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! Spent on the Iraq War...

NOTE: This is Real U.S. Dollars from U.S. Tax money!!

and As of March 25th 2008 there have been 29,314 U.S. men or women wounded in the Iraq War...







"NOW THAT'S ((( 33,314 ))) U.S. SOLDIERS DEAD OR WOUNDED"

In the Month of Jan-07 there were 83 U.S. soldiers killed

In the Month of Feb-07 there were 81 U.S. soldiers killed

In the Month of Mar-07 there were 81 U.S. soldiers killed

In the Month of Apr-07 there were 104 U.S. soldiers killed

In the Month of May-07 there were 126 U.S. soldiers killed

In the Month of Jun-07 there were 101 U.S. soldiers killed

In the Month of Jul-07 there were 80 U.S. soldiers killed

for the Month of Aug-07 there were 84 U.S. soldiers killed

for the Month of Sept-07 there were 66 U.S. soldiers killed

for the Month of Oct-07 there were 38 U.S. soldiers killed

for the Month of Nov-07 there were 37 U.S. soldiers killed

for the Month of Dec-07 there were 23 U.S. soldiers killed

for the Month of Jan-08 there were 40 U.S. soldiers killed

for the Month of Feb-08 there were 29 U.S. soldiers killed

for the Month of Mar-08 there were 27 U.S. soldiers killed so far

"THAT'S A TOTAL OF 1000 U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED SINCE JANUARY 2007!!!




"THANK YOU MR. BUSH"




.

Just thought I'd breathe some fresh air in to the stale atmosphere of cynic's paranoia and discontent

Enjoy

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,114684,00.html

Five years after the globalist firing of Saddam, it remains the most dangerous city, in the most dangerous country on earth

Where did you get that? What constitutes the "most dangerous". I'm not saying it isn't dangerous, just the opposite. But given what is happening in Africa, just to name a place at random, I don't think Iraq is the most dangerous place on earth. I could be wrong though.