There's reports that the Pentagon's internal report will "differ substantially" from what General Petraeus is telling America.
John Arquilla, an intelligence and counterinsurgency expert at the Naval Postgraduate School, is even harsher in his assessment of Petraeus. “I think Colin Powell used dodgy information to get us into the war, and Petraeus is using dodgy information to keep us there,” he said.
You think or you know?
“His political talking points are all very clear: the continued references he made to the danger of Al Qaeda in Iraq, for example, even though it represents only somewhere between 2 and 5 percent of the total insurgency.
How do you know it's only between 2 and 5%? Where do you get these figures?
The continued references to Iran, when in fact the Iranians have had a lot to do with stability in the Shiite portion of the country.
Yes, the insurgency isn't happening at all. The Shiite's aren't bombing markets full of people. If that's the Iranian's "help", I don't think anyone wants it.
And it's not at all clear why things are a little better now. Is it because there are more troops, or is it because we're negotiating with the insurgents and have moved to small operating outposts?
Well we'll all find that out once troops start coming home won't we? If things continue to go at the same pace and there are less troops, I think that would answer your question.
On any given day we don't have more than 20,000 troops operating.
How do you know this?
The glacial pace of reductions beggars the imagination.”
Well moving 30,000 troops out of Iraq is a big deal. Would you like it if we moved our guys out and had to bring them back because things hadn't quite settled down?
I'm not saying this guy is wrong. However, I want examples and hard data before I accept someone's opinion on matters.
Travis
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