Satellite Shows Ethnic Cleansing In Iraq Was Key Factor In "Surge" Success

Reuters:

WASHINGTON - Satellite images taken at night show heavily Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad began emptying before a U.S. troop surge in 2007, graphic evidence of ethnic cleansing that preceded a drop in violence, according to a report published on Friday.

The images support the view of international refugee organizations and Iraq experts that a major population shift was a key factor in the decline in sectarian violence, particularly in the Iraqi capital, the epicenter of the bloodletting in which hundreds of thousands were killed.

Minority Sunni Arabs were driven out of many neighborhoods by Shi'ite militants enraged by the bombing of the Samarra mosque in February 2006. The bombing, blamed on the Sunni militant group al Qaeda, sparked a wave of sectarian violence.

Read the whole story: Reuters

Comments

[citizenofmars]

01:29 PM on 09/20/2008

Israeli methods have become ours. Disgusting and criminal!!!!

[Alvin4NY]

10:53 PM on 09/22/2008

.....so tell me, how do we function in the day to day world, with all that has happened, unchecked and totally handed over? honest to god, i can barely stand to read a paper or watch a newscast. the focus is unreal. the media's not even trying to hide what they've become.

[AntiNeocons]

12:07 PM on 09/20/2008

Most Sunni Districts in Baghdad are now totally empty and have been taken by Kurds and Shias . some Shias still talk about their nice sunni neighbours who had to flee for their lives . what a total F..up . America is destroying somalia too (with its ethiopian troops ) and soon will do the same in Pakistan , waziristan and Baluchistan.

[BridgeTooFar]

10:50 AM on 09/20/2008

Wasn't Milosevic put in prison for doing same thing?

[thedirtman]

10:38 AM on 09/20/2008

Obama should not be attempting to answer the question "Is the surge working/". The surge would be a failure since it hasn't brought troops home. And it isn't the troops fault. Obama should be responding with his own rhetorical questions "Are the troops home yet?". There are more troops in Iraq then there are in Japan, Korea, and Germany put together. Yet Iraq is comparatively small. We went to Iraq with the hope of troops returning. What were the yellow ribbons about anyway? Have the troops come home? The troops didn't come home when we won. The troops didn't come home during the ensuing violence after we won. The troops didn't come home when the violence subdued. The only thing we can count on is that the troops don't come home, and that there are incredible numbers of troops needed. Now, ask me if the surge is working.

[All in All]

11:03 AM on 09/20/2008

Well said, Indeed!

I would've said the same words if someone asked Me about the "Surge"!!

[Americatortures]

09:45 AM on 09/20/2008

With all due respect...the NY TIMES featured an even MORE detailed map showing the ethnic cleansing in Iraq...OVER TWO MONTHS AGO!!! This writer is correct,,,just a bit tardy!!!

[adzeman]

08:54 AM on 09/20/2008

Another shiny lie. Anbar was calmed by Sunni desire for self preservation and ethnic cleansing for Baghdad. There is a separatist army controlling the breakaway Kurdistan, and its unclear who controls the south, but its not us. This is the "near-victory" McCain trumpets. It is nothing of the sort. Now that bushco is "negotiating" for what he wanted all along, it seems to be slipping away. With little time left it is likely we'll have spent our entire wealth and the lives of our best for nothing, Nothing but the wild notion of a cabal of right wing extremists.

[Americatortures]

09:48 AM on 09/20/2008

I wonder why Obama hasn't done a better job of pointing this out in response to the lie the McCainites are using to slam him(Obama) about the surge???

[Robert59]

02:56 PM on 09/20/2008

He knows the surge isn't solely responsible for the decline in violence, but to say otherwise is akin to swimming against the tide. The media is near unanimous in extolling the success of the surge; it's pointless to fight them so he agrees they're right, eats a little crow, loses a few points in the polls, but doesn't have to waste alot of energy defending the truth.

[rwe2late]

08:27 AM on 09/20/2008

This story is not finished. There is more to reveal.

How US policies exacerbated ethnic rivalries by the way political groups were first established and vetted, deBaathification, etc.

How the US facilitated ethnic violence, by disarming some groups, arming others, ignoring and even overseeing death squad activities, etc.

To what extent the US & Britain deliberately inflamed ethnic hostility by covert and false flag operations, as part of a 'divide and conquer' strategy.

[larazon]

08:37 AM on 09/20/2008

Like I stated below: no faction deserves to control that country exclusively and all that American military might accomplished is to reverse the victims and the ag-gressors, but the injustices remain as they were.

This is moral leadership? This is spreading freedom around the world???

[larazon]

08:25 AM on 09/20/2008

Anyone who thinks that ethnic cleansing was not the single most important factor in the decline of v-i-olence is kidding themselves.

The sunnis were driven out by a series of factors including the surge. This is like putting chewing gum on a hole in a water main, it's a joke, and eventually there will be chaos again. The quasi-stability achieved is extremely fragile and all h-ell can break loose eventually as resentment, bitterness and extreme hardship will push people to desperate measures.

This is far from over and together with the present financial crisis will probably usher in the "real" meltdown unless sane people are not entrusted to clean up the monumental mess being left by W.

This surge was a political play destined to help the Republicans in the imminent campaign at the time. It's a charade like everything else they do.

[larazon]

08:41 AM on 09/20/2008

Meant to say: unless sane people "are" entrusted to clean up the monumental mess made by W.

[SmellyOne]

08:00 AM on 09/20/2008

Wow... Propaganda based on the premise that it's important to find ANY reason other than the Surge as a reason for the drop in violence.

I think Bush's actions have been disgusting, I think those who use this war for political purposes (most of YOU) are almost as disgusting.

[CyrusBeaucephus]

03:09 PM on 09/20/2008

Wasn't the Awakening the cause of the reduction? Man you are Surge crazy. How many of the troops get to come home? Oh that's right, Smelly, they have to stay because the Surge is working so well. OK bud whatever you say, at least you are not disgusting like all the rest of us. Whatever

[Robert59]

05:42 AM on 09/20/2008

There is no single factor responsible for the decline in violence in Iraq.

I don't consider what the Shiites did as ethnic cleansing. They saw through all the fog and with perfect clarity realized the only way they would survive is by driving out the Sunnis. They had to separate the two groups. Once neighborhoods became 100 percent Shiite or Sunni, the walls and checkpoints did the rest.

The surge helped in Baghdad because there was never enough boots on the ground in the first place. If we had gone in with 300,000 soldiers and marines we could have prevented the anarchy, sealed the borders, secured all those ammo stockpiles, and kept the country from exploding. Rumsfeld wanted it done cheap and this is what cheap got us, paying a much higher bill later.

The Sunnis got tired of AQI (an organization I contend is made up of former Baathists using religion as a symbol to rally around). They got on our payroll.

Each element that brought violence down might have made the situation worse in the long run. Iraq's politiicians show no signs of reconciliation. In some areas the potential for all out war is getting greater.

[Passenger57]

07:12 AM on 09/20/2008

Robert59,it's awful close...it might not have been "ethnic",but there sure was some cleansing going on! One group is gone,chased away by the other.

[Robert59]

08:22 AM on 09/20/2008

I was being facetious. Of course it's ethnic cleansing, but that depends on your perspective. If you're a Shiite you call it survival. If you're a Sunni you call it persecution, genocide, ethnic cleansing.

The bigger point I'm trying to make is the Shiites had two choices. Cave to the Sunnis and cede the government back to them or drive them out and hold onto their newly won power.

They chose the latter.

[AryanMjolnir]

07:29 AM on 09/20/2008

Robert59-your contention is inaccurate-most AQI are foreign fighters who come to Iraq to fight Americans-very few are former Baathists. The Men of the Naqshabandi Army on the other hand are led by former vice-president Izzat al-Duri and are closer to what you describe.

[Robert59]

08:18 AM on 09/20/2008

Most of the suicide bombers are foreigners, but their handlers are native Iraqis. From the Council on Foreign Relations,

Expert estimates on the number of foreign fighters among Iraqi insurgent groups range from a few hundred to over 3,000. Total AQI numbers have been estimated at over 10,000. Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Syria, and Yemen were among the top suppliers of non-Iraqi militants to Iraq as of September 2005, according to the most recent data from the Brookings Institution’s Iraq Index (PDF). As of August 2007 between forty to sixty foreign fighters entered Iraq each month, though U.S. military officials say foreigners still account for the majority of suicide bombers. Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East specialist at the Congressional Research Service, writes (PDF) that AQI insurgents, along with other foreign fighters, “entered Sunni-inhabited central Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, from the Kurdish controlled north” and elsewhere in the Middle East.

[SmokinJoeCalculus]

01:54 AM on 09/20/2008

It's not working for me. Does it jsut take a long time to load?

[shockmagog]

01:19 AM on 09/20/2008

bb922335 says:

"I've been there twice, and I can tell you...this is pure cr@p. You cowards can't even stand to give troops the credit they deserve."

Typical Cro-Magnon plant--conflates the actions of the criminal B*sh Family with those they put in harms way. It's as phony an argument as you are a soldier. What a T00L.

[NobodysPoodle]

10:56 PM on 09/19/2008

Wow check out this link..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qRy4PnmNu8

Really makes you think about McCain's relationship to the military.

[LeeCalif]

10:15 PM on 09/19/2008

Go to ProsecuteGeorgeBush.com and please donate.

[SupremeIdiot]

09:59 PM on 09/19/2008

Once again we're right about Iraq. The neocons do everything in their power to muddy the waters but the truth comes our.