It's nice to know that regardless of the measures used to keep track of the insurgency in Iraq, we're clearly winning the war there.
See,
after the election diminished insurgent activity indicates the insurgency is losing:
Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, said yesterday that the strength of the Iraqi insurgency is waning as a result of momentum from elections, and he predicted Iraqi security forces would be leading the fight against insurgents in most of Iraq by the end of 2005.
While acknowledging that Iraq's Sunni Arab insurgency gained intensity from November through January compared with the previous year, Abizaid told a Senate panel that the insurgents' failure to disrupt Jan. 30 elections marked a turning point and indicated declining popular support.
Insurgents fielded only "around 3,500" fighters on election day, he said, citing U.S. intelligence estimates. Earlier U.S. intelligence had put the number of core Iraqi and foreign fighters at as many as 20,000.
"Why didn't they put more people in the field? Where were they?" Abizaid asked in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. "They threw their whole force at us, and yet they were unable to disturb the elections. I think that the voting in Iraq, the political process that's going on . . . have driven those numbers [of insurgents] down."
While an uptick in insurgent attacks now means they are obviously desperate to stave off defeat
the heightened suicide bombings over the last two weeks, while probably a last-ditch effort, have won the militants important propaganda victories by gaining worldwide news coverage, increasing insurgent morale that flagged after the Jan. 30 elections, and depicting the new Iraqi government as incapable of protecting its citizenry.
"When he cranks up the propaganda campaign, it means we've probably hurt him," Brigadier General John DeFreitas 3rd, the senior military intelligence officer in Iraq, said of Zarqawi.
Awesome. No matter what happens, we are clearly winning.
This incident, where Iraqi police officers insult our troops after a car bombing, is clearly another sign of victory.
Iraqi police hurled insults at US soldiers after two suicide car bomb blasts in Baghdad killed at least seven people and left 19 wounded, including policemen.
"It's all because you're here," a policeman shouted in Arabic at a group of US soldiers after the latest in a bloody wave of attacks that have rocked Baghdad this month.
"Get out of our country and there will be no more explosions," he told the uncomprehending Americans staring at the smouldering wreck of a car bomb.
Surely a sign of the impending collapse of the insurgency. Either that, or the Iraqi cops are just defeatist, pro-terrorist, America-hating liberals.
But, hey, at least we know our troops are getting the best we have to offer!
The Marine Corps issued to nearly 10,000 troops body armor that government experts urged the Corps to reject after tests revealed critical, life-threatening flaws in the vests.
In all, the Marine Corps accepted about 19,000 Interceptor outer tactical vests from Point Blank Body Armor Inc. that failed government tests due to "multiple complete penetrations" of 9mm pistol rounds, failing scores on other ballistic or quality-assurance tests, or a combination of the two.
"Since these are lifesaving pieces of equipment and are being used in support of the Iraq war, I urge immediate action since this technical office has little confidence in the performance of the items to provide the contracted levels of protection as defined in the performance specification," wrote ballistics expert James MacKiewicz in a memorandum rejecting two lots of vests on July 19, 2004.
We're turning the corner folks, turning the corner.
Mmmm....where's that KoolAid?
