Iraq War Update

HOW THINGS REALLY ARE GOING

The war in Iraq has largely been ignored over the past three weeks by the media. Their obsession with whats going on in Israel in Lebanon has put Iraq on the backburner, but the war does continue. Violence is up in Baghdad by most accounts. The city is still under siege by insurgents and terrorists, blowing up car bombs and IED, and using other various cowardly methods to kill US troops and innocent Iraqis. However, according to globalsecurity.org, US military deaths in Iraq were way down in July. A total of 41 brave US troops were killed in Iraq last month, and zero so far in August. Lets all hope and pray that not another single troop is murdered by those animals over there.

As I said earlier, the violence in Baghdad has escalated lately, but it seems that the rest of the country as become more stable. Last week, the Pentagon announced that it would be moving more US troops into Baghdad from other areas of the country. To me, this is proof that other areas have calmed down. The Northern part of Iraq is run by the Kurds, and they are very pro-American. That area is probably the least violent part of the entire country. The south, including Basra, is under British watch, and that section is also relatively stable. The only current hotbed for attacks is Baghdad and its surrouding cities. Unfortunately, those areas consist of more than 25% of the entire population of Iraqi's, so policeing that many people is extremely difficult.

Many had hoped that the United States could begin withdrawling troops from Iraq by the end of the year. Recent events however seem to indicate the contrary, but nobody is certain. A couple of days ago, the Iraqi President said that he believes Iraqi security forces will be able to completely police his country by the beginning of 2007, but thats probably wishful thinking. All I know is that it is a positive development that US casualities are down over there. Im not sure if we have adapted better to the tactives of the terrorists, or why the number is down, but who really cares. I believe that once we can clean up Baghdad, we will win the war, and our service people can come home. The media has forgotten about Iraq, but you can be sure that they will remember it come election time. Dont give up on the effort, it was still the right thing to do, and we are and will be better off for the hard work that has been accomplished. God Bless the troops.

-Brad