THE US, THE UN AND THE IRAQIS THEMSELVES, V. 7.0

A committee Democrat, who said his own vote was still undecided, agreed with that prediction. "There's a lower standard, frankly, for attorney general than for judge, because you give the president who he wants," said Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., also appearing on "Today."

General Warns of Pre-Election Iraq Attacks

Friday January 7, 2005 6:16 PM

By NICK WADHAMS

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The U.S. military expects insurgents may try to carry out ``spectacular'' attacks that would inflict major casualties in a bid to disrupt Jan. 30 elections and intimidate Iraqis who might go to the polls, a top U.S. official said Friday.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Air Force Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel said insurgent attacks had become increasingly gruesome in recent months - with beheadings, slain bodies left at roadsides, and grisly car bombings.

Lessel, deputy chief of staff for strategic communications, said that the United States has no intelligence indicating specific plans for a major attack but it is a concern. He said the insurgents' biggest weapon was their ability to instill fear.

``I think a worst case is where they have a series of horrific attacks that cause mass casualties in some spectacular fashion in the days leading up to the elections,'' Lessel said. ``If you look over the last six months they have steadily escalated the barbaric nature of the attacks they have been committing. A year ago you didn't see these kinds of horrific things.''

Among the worst in recent months have been foreigners beheaded and videos aired on television, slain bodies of Iraqi police and security forces left on roadsides with notes warning people they will suffer the same fate if they cooperate with the Americans.

Lessel said the U.S. military had stepped up operations in areas of the country still deemed too unsafe to vote, but said the work was not highly visible like the campaign to retake the rebel stronghold of Fallujah in November. He claimed that the insurgents do not have widespread public support.

He said there were only two provinces that give the Americans ``significant concern'' - Anbar, which includes the city of Fallujah, and Nineveh, which includes Mosul - and the Americans were taking ``aggressive action'' to make sure the vote can be held.

He said the United States had seen progress in areas south of Baghdad including Mahmoudiya and Latifiyah. More U.S. and Iraqi troops have also been sent to the northern city of Mosul, an area of major concern where insurgents are strong, and Lessel said the United States had made progress in Ramadi, also the site of violence.

``The people in Ramadi are tired of the insurgents, tired of foreign fighters that are there, and increasingly want to support the multinational forces,'' he said.

So far, Lessel said, repeated insurgent attacks directed at police and security forces has not discouraged Iraqis from joining the ranks of the military. He said that there were currently 7,000 police and National Guard recruits in training and another 25,000 awaiting training, and that national pride and the prospect of a paying job were behind the continued figures.

Lessel repeated past American and Iraqi statements that he suspected insurgents would increase attacks before the election, but that the incidence of attacks would probably decline after the vote. He said the insurgents simply would not be able to sustain the number of attacks - which frequently include suicide bombings - at their current rate.

``It's interesting because they are using car bombs, IEDS, RPGs and other weapons to instill fear and terror in the Iraqi people, but what they, the terrorists, fear most is a simple piece of paper called a ballot,'' Lessel said. ``They fear the election. I think successful elections will have a significant impact on the insurgents.''

I really forgot about what Joe mentioned for a short moment.
(That's due to my headache, I think, otherwise I'm certainly aware of it.)

Foxfyre, If you're so sold on the elections in Iraq, why don't you go there to some of the polling places and congratulate them for their "exercising their right to vote?" I would also like to see Bush and Cheney do the same. Talk is cheap.

Foxfyre, If you're so sold on the elections in Iraq, why don't you go there to some of the polling places and congratulate them for their "exercising their right to vote?" I would also like to see Bush and Cheney do the same. Talk is cheap.

In the speculations you've made that I've quoted, ican, you make assumptions that do not necessarily proceed from the information you quote. Those are logical leaps.[No! Those are not logical leaps, they are what I say they are: my assumptions. One rarely supplies evidence for assumptions. Please identify which of my assumptions you disagree with and I'll see what I can do.]

About the air strikes that the US military proposed before our invasion and occupation of Iraq, I was referring to exercises in futility, ican, and air strikes in that regard would have been at least as effective and a whole lot more cost effective than an all out invasion and occupation. What Clinton accomplished was the destruction of those alleged al Qaeda sites in Afghanistan.
[No! All that was accomplished by that raid was the destruction of a big bunch of al Qaeda tents. Almost all the al Qaeda themselves were not touched. We found that to be true when we invaded Afghanistan in Oct.2001.]
At the very least, that is what air strikes could have accomplished in Iraqi Kurdistan.
[which ain't much!]
Also, at the time the US military proposed its plans to the Bush administration they were fairly certain that Zarqawi was at that camp at the time, and the camp was filled with Ansar members. The chest beating and weapon rattling of the Bush admin. up until the time of our invasion effectively squandered the element of surprise that had been in our favor. By the time we did strike that camp, a day after we started the war, the camp had been evacuated. We are now dealing with the various new groups of terrorists and insurgents that have formed from Ansar al-Islam and Zarqawi's group, like Ansar al-Sunnah, which claimed responsibility for the mess hall bombing in Mosul last month.
[Yes! We agree! Bush erred by making his prolonged and foreseable futile attempt to get UN support free of a French and a Russian veto.]

The Bush admin. didn't care about precision air strikes, ican. Members of the Bush admin. had been advocating a war against Iraq long before the military presented its plans for air strikes, back to the time right before Bush had been elected. The admin. began actual war plans days after the 9/11 attacks. That is what the UN security council opposed, a war, not air strikes.
[Bush planners cared to avoid another futile air strike. They wanted to invade both by air and ground. According to both General Franks and the 9-11 Commission, planning for possible invasion of Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan commenced after Bush was inaugurated. None of these plans were actually adopted. The Afghanistan invasion plan was finally revised and executed in short order after 9/11/2001. The Iraq plan was revised several times before it was considered feasible in mid 2002. However, it too was revised a few more times before it was adopted and the invasion of Iraq actually comenced.]

The events of 1996 in Iraqi Kurdistan are more complex than what you've quoted from Britannica, ican.
[I agree, but is all the detail relevant?]
The two major political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) had been at odds with each other since 1994 when there was an outbreak of fighting between their respective forces. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) captured Arbil from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in 1996 with the enlisted help of Saddam's Republican Guard. The PUK invited the support of Saddam. That is the major reason the US did not get involved in the conflict. It was a Kurdish affair. There was intermittent fighting until Washington brokered a peace agreement between the two sides in September of 1998. By September, 1996, the KDP itself claimed that Arbil was empty of Iraqi troops.
[Arbil does not include the al Qaeda campsite locations in northern Iraq. How does your account contradict Britannica's reference to Saddam's subsequent unilateral intrusions into the autonomous area? Also, the US invited Saddam twice in 2002 and once in in 2003 to capture and turn over to the US the leadership of the al Qaeda in northern Iraq.]

CI writes

Quote:

Foxfyre, If you're so sold on the elections in Iraq, why don't you go there to some of the polling places and congratulate them for their "exercising their right to vote?" I would also like to see Bush and Cheney do the same. Talk is cheap.

Yes talk is cheap. It doesn't cost me more than a few cents at most, if even that, to encourage and support materially, emotionally, and mentally the freedom-seeking Iraqis, and the brave military trying to help them achieve it. And actually I would go if I had the ability to do so. I am grateful to those who come to our assistance or join with us in a noble effort.

Along these same lines, instead of assuming the worst and that 'violence is out of control', why don't you go and see for yourself C.I? See if maybe there really is a chance for the Iraqis to be a free and self-determining people. Or see if your vision of total chaos over there is accurate. I frequently talk to people who are there or who have recently been there. They sure don't see it the way you do.