Army Operations Chief: "The IED Problem Is Getting Out Of Control. We've Got To Stop The Bleeding."

Washington Post:

By the late summer of 2002, as the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington approached, an American victory in Afghanistan appeared all but assured.

A pro-Western government had convened in Kabul. Reconstruction teams fanned out through the provinces. U.S. and coalition troops hunted Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants in the mountains along the Pakistani border...

...By late September 2003, Lt. Gen. Richard A. Cody, the Army's operations chief, believed that IEDs not only threatened soldiers in Iraq, who included his two sons and a nephew, but also posed a strategic risk to U.S. ambitions in the region. "The IED problem is getting out of control," he told Col. Christopher P. Hughes, a staff officer. "We've got to stop the bleeding."

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[Ammobob]

September 28, 2007
Read More: Iraq

Federal judge orders Murtha to testify in Haditha defamation case


A federal judge has ordered Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) to testify in a defamation case related to the deaths of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha in 2005, according to the Associated Press.

Murtha, a former Marine. accused Marines of "cold-blooded murder and war crimes'' during the Haditha incident. Frank Wuterich, a Marine sergeant involved in the incident, has sued Murtha for libel and invasion of privacy over his comments.

According to AP, U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer wants Murtha to explain why he made this statement and any documents he has related to the incident.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0907/Federal_judge_order_Murtha_to_testify_in_Haditha_defamation_case.html

[Nyland8]

Cool.

8

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[Ammobob]

I've noticed a clear drop in HuffPo IRAQ related 'Bad' news stories, why's that?



US, Iraqi civilian deaths fall sharply By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer
18 minutes ago



BAGHDAD - Deaths among American forces and Iraqi civilians fell dramatically last month to their lowest levels in more than a year, according to figures compiled by the U.S. military, the Iraqi government and The Associated Press.

ADVERTISEMENT

The decline signaled a U.S. success in bringing down violence in Baghdad and surrounding regions since Washington completed its infusion of 30,000 more troops on June 15.

A total of 64 American forces died in September " the lowest monthly toll since July 2006.

The decline in Iraqi civilian deaths was even more dramatic, falling from 1,975 in August to 922 last month, a decline of 53.3 percent. The breakdown in September was 844 civilians and 78 police and Iraqi soldiers, according to Iraq's ministries of Health, Interior and Defense.

[getoffmedz]

Ammobob - AP gets their data from where?

You mean like Iraqi WMDs, Nigerian "yellow cake and the "Insugency is in it's final throes?"

August and September are the hottest months of the year in Iraq, too hot even to fight a war.

Look at the numbers for the same period each year.

[SmellyOne]

Stop it you naysayer. You believe AP when they write about high numbers of deaths, don't you?


How do you select what to believe and what NOT to believe... I'll tell you... it's based on what fits into your paradigm.

Yeah it's hot, and that could contribute to the lower death count, but what about Jan, Feb, and March of this year? There was a drop in deaths then, and I'm pretty sure those aren't the hot months.


Why don't you just accept the fact that the Democrats aren't going to do anything to end US involvement in Iraq, and the top 3 Dem candidates have all said they can't promise the troops will be home in 2013!!!!

There is one option left.... SUPPORTING THE EFFORT!!!!! It's the quickest way to get the troops home!!!!!

[Ammobob]

The metrics have now shifted dramatically in Iraq. All violent deaths have dropped sharply, showing that the aggressive tactics and strategy of General David Petraeus have met with success. The terrorists have splintered and the tribal leaders in western Iraq have mostly aligned themselves with the US and the Iraqi Army. Those who claimed that Petraeus would misrepresent the truth in Iraq have nothing left of their argument.

Thanks CQ

[Ammobob]

Meanwhile, Sunni and Shi'ite unity came from a remarkable source -- opposition to the US Congress. Politicians from parties representing both populations rejected a non-binding resolution sponsored by Joe Biden that suggested a "soft partition" of Iraq along sectarian lines. The Sunnis and the Shi'ites both reacted with derision, calling the notion a "catastrophe" and "incorrect and unrealistic". Sunni leaders vowed to press for Iraqi unity, and Nouri al-Maliki said that division is the problem, not the solution. Even the secularists jumped into the debate, essentially telling Biden and the Senate that they have underestimated Iraqis

[Prolix247]

If you match September 2006 to September 2007 I believe it has been reported that September 2007 was deadlier. I also believe the same is true if you match month to month not across time.

Of course no one here really knows the true numbers based on the new formula used to record deaths such as; If a soldier is mortally wounded but does not die on the battlefield he/she is not counted as a battle fatality. Or if an Iraqi is shot in the front of the head he is Al Qaeda, if it is in the back of the head, it is fratricide. This really does not make sense.

So I would be careful before I state that things are getting better. Remember even GWB compared this war to Viet Nam. You should also remember that body counts were manipulated there also.

Veteran for Peace

[stargazer13]

to army I would suggest going after the people who sell the ied tech components hum sounds like a place too start for me any way

[partyofone]

This is a very interesting article. It seems to say that the IED technology is very crude but shows the resourcefulness of insurgents in making due with what they have. With all our technological skill and billions of dollars, the US military has not been able to counter these crude explosive devices.
The article says that there are huge amounts of unsecured explosive materials still available in Iraq for use by insurgents there and in Afghanistan.

I did see Iran mentioned once in the entire, lengthy article. Hmmm. But the Bush administratio and mainstream press keep making the case the IED are Iran supplied, and a reason for attacking Iran. More cover up and propoganda for inept military planning and strategic capacity to adapt to an enemies tactics.

This is more sad commentary on how badly the Iraq War was planned and is being conducted.

[alfrede]

Hi,
More evidence of lack of planning and poor execution on the part of the Bush Administration.
The ammo dumps were never secured. Why, Mr. President, the "Decider". Why did U not do this??
Is it because U did not have enough troops to secure them OR that U did not want to?
Tragic conseguences for "us". Do U really care, Mr President and Mr. Vice President?
Why is General Cody left on his own to counter the IEDs? Is it because of a dysfunctional Pentagon bureaucracy? Perhaps this situation is a candidate for a Harvard Business School case study.

[MagisterLudi]

Alfrede,
A great series of valid questions!

On a blog like this many describe the losses in the theater in terms of ideology ( especially the cyber jihadists and their American supporters posting here).
But often the loss of initiative with its consequent disasters can be DIRECTLY attributed to precise steps as described by you.
Keep posting here to counter the hysteria brigade.

[GenXLiberal]

Lt. Cody,
It must be frightning and frustrating taking orders from a terrorist like our president and then fighting a small group of them. It must be even harder knowing that alot of Americans supported pulling a big chunk of troops out of Afghanistan to fight in a civil war over in Iraq. Sad that the GOP doesn't understand the post 911 world we live in. Guess they'll cut and run like always.Can't trust those SOB's to defend a paper cup!

[Nyland8]

Army Operations Chief: "The IED Problem Is Getting Out Of Control. We've Got To Stop The Bleeding."

Wow! Apparently, the IED problem was once in our control ... and now it's getting out of control.

Who knew?

And even more interesting is that after more than four-and-a-half years of bleeding, suddenly now we've got to stop it.

How old is this headline?

Or where has the Army Operations chief been hiding?

8

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[ResidentChimp]

Why is HuffPo recycling an old story? It's simple; they want to ignore the fact that military deaths in Iraq are the lowest in 14 months. That would point to the embarrassing fact the surge is working and while the left has been deperately trying to surrender, we're making real progress in the war on terror.

[Nyland8]

Uh ... no, that wouldn't point to any such fact. Is the "surge" re-winning all the lost hearts and minds? Has it brought back the dead? Do the lame now walk and the blind now see? Have the millions of displaced Iraqis gone home again? Has half-a-trillion dollars miraculously found its way back into our tax coffers?

Have more than twenty million Iraqis suddenly come down with amnesia? ... or do they still actually remember who the source has been of the last four-and-a-half years of suffering, privation, indignity and death in their country?

Let me know when the surge magically reverses the last four-and-a-half years of catastrophic and irredeemable failure in Iraq.

Then we'll know its "working".

8

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[ResidentChimp]

I guess that's why surrender monkeys want to wave the white flag. It doesn't matter how well the wars going, they will always want to retreat and blame America first. I imagine that the majority of the Iraqis remember very well how life was under Saddam Hussein. The Kurds and the Shia remember how he massacred them with gas and bombs, Political opponents remember how he tortured them and their family members. If you actually looked around you will find many first hand accounts of the progress being made in Iraq. Any misgivings Iraqis have about the war has to do with all the anti-war rhetoric the surrender monkeys put out. Iraqis remember how the surrender monkeys sabotages the Vietnam war and created all the after war chaos. They are afraid that Iraq is going the same way. The surrender monkeys wont be satisfied untill the enemy triumps. By definition the surrender monkeys hope that the past four years are irredeemable. I tfits in with their coordinate propaganda assault on the Bush Administration. Regardless of how much ground the terrorists are losing in Iraq, the surrender monkeys provide a negative narrative against America. It's the same sort of thing I witness in Vietnam during TET. The fact that we won every major battle during TET, the surrender monkeys touted it as a great victory for the Viet Cong and NVA. Your just parroting the surrender monkey party line.

[SmellyOne]

Hey Nyland...

Who said the Surge would do all that fantastic stuff you said?

Also, I disagree with your assertion that the US is the "source" for the years of suffering, etc. We were the catalyst. The source has been the Iraqi people themselves and foreign fighters under the Al Qaeda banner.

[CheneysACoward]

Chimp...It's time to put down The Bong. War on terror? You have to be fuckingkidding us....or yourself.

[cynic]

Why is ResidentChimp such a putz?

[2224612]

Why didn't you sons-of-bitches want to stop these IEDs in 1965 in Viet Nam? What's wrong? We weren't your fair-haired children? Not pretty enough for you?

How would you of today like 200 killed a WEEK and a thousand or more wounded a WEEK, most from the 1960s versions of the IEDs you famously go on about now.

I hope you fuckers never get into a REAL war.

[fact finder]

Stop the bleeding O.K. GET THE HECK OUT.

[cynic]

Get the heck out...

Now that's an easy answer to an overly complex question.

Get Out.
So simple even a 10 year old could figure it out. We went in on a mistake. We never planned what to do once we got there. They don't want us there. In fact they hate our being there so much they keep trying to kill us.

Just GET OUT!

Wow. Too bac the shrub and the spawn of Satan don't have the cognitive ability or the morality of a 10 year old.


ITMFA

[olivia]

This film ought to be required viewing for every member of Congress and every American.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6312944995236048527&q=no+end+in+sight&total=607&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Never in the history of the western world has a group of "leaders" completely botched an operation so thoroughly and deliberately as they botched Iraq.

[Erdgeist]

I think my views reflect the views of many Americans who are tried of this war: we don't believe anything the government tells us and least of all Bush and his sycophant generals.

It is clear that the WH's new target is Iran just before the elections. It is also clear that we are fighting Israel's wars--and people here can't say no to Israel who has no ratified constitution; is an ethnocentric garrison state, if you are not Jewish; and could not care less about the U.S.

[elakelaiset]

There's been a show on PBS which started last week and is on again tonight, about WWII. You might've heard about it (by Ken Burns)?? It takes several nights of two hour shows to cover its subject, BECAUSE THAT WHOLE FUCKING WAR TOOK JUST OVER FOUR YEARS TO FIGHT (for us, and because of strategy, sacrifice, determination - and no room for dimwitted, short-sighted "leaders"). But Bush and the neocons insisted on doing it all "on the cheap" and couldn't come up with a way to do it in less than 20.

[olivia]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6312944995236048527&q=no+end+in+sight&total=607&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Every possible mistake that could have been made after the Mission Accomplished blather was made. They fired the competent people. They ignored the advice of absolutely everyone qualified to give it. They alienated every single Iraqi and every Muslim in the entire world, when they didn't have to. This is the biggest f**kup in the history of the western world.

[MagisterLudi]

Most of intelligent people (that excludes the DreckGeist) know that Iraqi war was about oil.
So was the Kuwait war.
Syria was never invaded and will never be invaded by US, although a bitter enemy on ISrael border. Why? NO OIL, STUPID.

But don't let reality stop you from enjoying your hatred. Hatred is very comforting.

"Israel...ethnocentric garrison state."

Do not measure Middle East politics by your childish standards.
Still, Israel is a beacon of democracy with 20% Arab population fully represented in the Parliament and enjoying social benefits that are higher than middle class salaries in most ME countries.
Thats why most Israeli Arabs would rather die than live under Fatah or Hamas.
THEY know the situation. YOU don't.

Again, don't let reality stop you from enjoying your hatred.
Hatred is very comforting especially if your own life sucks, eh arschloch.

[43P04T34]

Ya Think, General?

What's your plan? Is it any different than the one that got us all INTO this mess?

[jmc42]

*
Not to worry General, the so-called wars we don't win on the ground, we do win in the movies.

Actually, when facing an enemy who has the moral authority and the aggressor who does not, then IED's are moral and the deaths are
justified.

*

[Independent voter]

I hope that this doesn't get me sent to Cuba, but I think that Rumsfeld should be crucified on the White House lawn for sending our kids into battle without the necessary equipment.

Clueless leader should join him for his decision to protect the Iraqi oil ministry rather than securing the ammunition depots.

I think that it would be appropriate to tie the children of the neocons (I would like be more specific, but the thought police monitor these blogs) to the bumpers of the lead humvee in any convoy. Perhaps if this were done, our troops would get the equipment that they need.

[CheneysACoward]

Like Rummy said...You don't go to war with the Leaders you want....you go with the Leaders you are stuck with...... Or did I get that wrong?