[Dean's World] Dave Price: Backstabbing

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Posted by Dave Price:
Backstabbing
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1184123077.shtml


   Via [1]Glenn, Eric Scheie of Classical Values has [2]an amusing
   rejoinder to more [3]poorly argued defeatism from Andrew Sullivan, who
   notes an AP-reported incident in which U.S. forces requested 11,500
   ISF to help with operations in Salman Pak, but only got 1,500 because
   Iraqi officials preferred they be deployed elsewhere. Like Eric (whose
   last name I freely admit I have not the slightest clue how to
   pronounce), I too feel a sense of blogligation here as I was also
   "approvingly linked" in Glenn's post, and unlike Glenn have actually
   argued ISF are "increasingly effective" (as opposed to merely being
   erroneously accused of that sin).
   First off, it's obvious that if Iraq has anything like sovereignty,
   Iraqi officials are going to be the ultimate arbiters of where Iraqi
   troops go. They may not always agree with us, which can be
   problematic, but that has little bearing on "effectiveness."
   Second, in a war this large you can find a single bad example of
   anything, but that proves nothing about the overall progress of Iraqi
   forces' effectiveness. I can easily cite several instances where ISF
   showed up and performed well, from [4]a single Bill Roggio post:

     In Samawa, Iraqi Army and police units deployed throughout the city
     "after negotiations with Sadr's office in the city reached a
     'deadlock.'"
     ...
     In Baghdad, Iraqi Special Operations Forces captured seven members
     of "a rogue Jaysh al-Madhi" cell on July 7. This cell was part of
     "a network involved in death squad activities, kidnapping and
     assassination activities."
     ...
     In Mosul, Iraqi Army Soldiers and Mosul Police officers found an
     IED factory and weapons cache with "approximately 10,000 pounds of
     ammonia nitrate and other bomb making materials." The Iraqi forces
     also found a "military grade bunker system nearby, which had been
     used as an insurgent safe house." Near Kirkuk, Iraqi troops
     captured a facilitator for the Islamic Army in Iraq, along with
     four associates. One insurgent was killed and eight captured during
     raids in northwestern Iraq on July 7.

   Or from the MNF site, Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Mellinger on
   [5]training Iraqi Special Forces:

     After this demonstration of capabilities, Mellinger and Hill met
     with the ISOF commander to express their satisfaction with the
     training and professional progress the force has made.
     âYou have some very, very professional soldiers,â Hill said to the
     commander.

   Oddly, the AP didn't pick those stories up and run with them. Maybe
   they were [6]too heroic.
   T=Of course, to really gauge whether ISF are getting more effective,
   you'd need to look at overall numbers rather than anecdotal evidence.
   While there isn't a lot of recent data, you can see in the [7]Iraq
   Index that every time the military has reported on the ISF numbers and
   effectiveness they've gotten better and more numerous overall, and the
   [8]military's statements echo that:

     Iraqi troops becoming more effective every day, general says
     Iraqi security forces are becoming more capable every day, fighting
     and dying for their country because the future depends on them,
     U.S. Central Commandâs commander said this week

   Finally, it is supremely ironic Andrew calls Glenn a
   "stab-in-the-backer" while he plunges a rhetorical dagger of disdain
   into the spine of our troops's work, mocking their progress in the
   effort to train Iraqi security forces.
   Not that I would question his patriotism, of course. That kind of
   accusation is out of bounds for civil debate (except in the case of
   [9]those vile, subhuman miscreants who dare question global warming
   orthodoxy), unlike virtually any slander of our soldiers and their
   work which is the highest form of patriotism.

References

   1. http://www.instapundit.com/
   2. http://www.classicalvalues.com/archives/2007/07/surrender_now_l.html
   3. http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/07/increasingly-ef.html
   4. http://billroggio.com/archives/2007/07/iraq_report_phantom.php
   5. http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11844&Itemid=128
   6. http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1151087611.shtml
   7. http://www3.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index.pdf
   8. http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5792&Itemid=128
   9. http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/2007/07/10/science-is-treason/