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

[screwedrus]

Yup, the surge worked. The surge of ethnic cleansing, that is. Yup, Yup.

I wish Palin could see Baghdad from her front porch.

[andvoodoo2]

I wish Palin could see Gitmo from her bunk.

[mouselion]

Probably sees it while aerial with Cheney.

[nycstacy]

and obama thought just leaving in 16 months would solve this problem, what a fo.ol terrible judgment man should be pushing flyers in his community not running for president

[screwedrus]

No, I'm pretty sure he thought leaving in 16 months would mean our troops would stop being killed in someone else's civil war.

You've still got time to sign up and go kill you some rag-heads, though. Hell, it'd be better than being in a Mark Martin/Jeff Gordon "Man"wich!

[asteven]

and do you think that staying there for 100 years would solve it? A 2000 years old problem??? Iraq will eventually split, you might like it or not... Saddam was the only guy who was able to keep it together by force... I'm afraid that Joe Biden was right... Iraq will not survive as ONE nation...

[andvoodoo2]

Jesus was a community organizer, too. How do your right wing Christian buddies feel about that fact?

[Passenger57]

I can see the headlines now : "MCCAIN CALLS OBAMA 'FO.OL TERRIBLE JUDGEMENT MAN' ".
That's actually McCain's secret identity."­Ta-Daaa! Terrible Judgement Man here!" Then people said, "We don't believe it's really you!",and McCain said, "Oh yeah...wat­ch THIS!"
The next day,he picks Palin Pasty for his VP, who heard about The Surge on THE NEWS...and everyone says, "We still don't believe you"...the­n he says that "The fundamentals of our economy are strong" on the day the stocks plunge 500 points.The­n Palin puts herself at the top of the ticket in a speech.
"Gosh...th­at really WAS Terrible Judgement ,Man!"

[nycstacy]

and obama thought just leaving in 16 months would solve this problem, what a fool terrible judgment man should be pushing flyers in his community not running for president

[Durango]

History has shown that it takes up to a generation or more before the effects of our meddling in the Middle East bear fruit.

It was over 25 years from the time that we overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran, under Mossadegh before the Iranian revolution threw out the USA puppet the Shah.

It took a decade for our abandonment of Afghanistan to come back and bite us in 2001. It took less time for Saddam to turn our support for his war against Iran to come back and haunt us with his invasion of Kuwait.

I expect the problems of Iraq will be with us for decades. The "Surge" didn't "work." It simply is a new and different phase of what will probably be a long term disaster for the people of Iraq and the region.

I HOPE, I Pray that President Obama will be able to revive the good name of the United States. And through good judgment and wisdom will find a solution to that utter catastrophe the USA has made of the country.

But I don't have a lot of hope even Obama will be able to pull off the miracle that will be required.

[AmandaBC]

"But I don't have a lot of hope even Obama will be able to pull off the miracle that will be required."

My thought exactly.
It's pretty much FUBAR...

[mouselion]

It's a lesson never learned. It was the Republicans who allowed the newly formed CIA to meddle in Iran at the behest of the Brits. We've been thinking that it was Tony Blair who was the poodle -- we got it backwards.

[Passenger57]

Obama can start restoring the tattered image of the USA just by being voted in as President - which dovetails neatly into Obama's message of us citizens helping to get America back on track.We ALL have to work to repair America's image.

[Durango]

I agree and hope you are right.

Just having someone, anyone who is not Bush/Cheney should go a long ways towards repairing America's image in the world.

Having intelligent leaders with good judgment could do even more.

i have great hopes for Barak Obama.

But iIfear Bush/Cheney's screwups will haunt us for generations.

[GrainOSand]

Bob Woodruff hinted or teased (as he made the rounds to chat up his new book) that there was some information about the surge in terms of how it was orchestrated that would be explosive if it came out. Is it coming out? I think he used a Manhattan Project analogy.

The surge question may be alive in some minds in America. It was never alive in my mind as anything beyond putting more firepower on the ground to produce more violence in an effort to stop still more violence. The surge did nothing to distract from my pre-surge conviction that illegal war is war that must be withdrawn from immediately with honor by the military and disgrace by the criminals who architected it, who sadly, lied about it via the press and who even sadder, voted for it in the congress.

It does not matter, destiny has been set in motion and America seems intent on riding, not off into the sunset, but off the nearest cliff that greed, hubris, and evil can locate. Press on, press on, and that wry smile will become flowing tears and lips trembling in the horror of realized folly. Forget the terrorists, we are gonna bring this baby down ourselves.

The tool of our destruction is made in the good old US of A.

[coastalcarla]

I've been telling my friends for months that the reason that violence is down (if, indeed, it truly is down) is probably because there is nobody left in Baghdad - they're either dead, or they left to keep from being dead. So yes, once again, they have lied through their teeth to make themselves look good and to make the escalation seem like it worked. It's all BS. Bush has completely destroyed that country.

[MachCrit]

Of course anyone that cared to research the efficacy of the surge already knew that there were at least four of five reasons that the violence subsided without the additional troops, no matter how often McSame touted it. I hope Obama maintians his, now bolstered, rationale when the subject, undoubtedly, appears during the debates. "Geez, John, I guress you were wrong about everything, just like your mentor, Dubya."

[wndrwrthg]

The surge did work, the surge in ethnic cleansing that is.

[RadLeftVetPatriot]

THANK YOU!

THIS is why the surge "worked".

Before the surge, refugees were displaced, local officials murdered and the social/rel­igious/civ­ic cores of neighborhoods were destroyed by the US funded Majority Sect.

Surge troops were "successful" after internal Iraqi ethnic and sectarian violence so that the White House could take advantage of the CIVIL strife (caused by us) and smugly justify its follies.

But WHO KNEW!??

[atila]

This is very serious because if it's true,Bush and Mccain lied again!!...­i hope Oberlmann or Rachel can give to this note some relevance.­..

[tenngirlsdad]

The surge worked. You and Obama need to figure that out.

[Kynn]

This article is more proof that the Surge didn't do much of anything.

[Blutus]

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,


Read much??

[RadLeftVetPatriot]

Earth to Dad.
The Surge is smoke and mirrors.
Read.

[AmandaBC]

Read?


Pffft!!!


Now THAT's the real problem with conservatives!!!

[rich3324]

tenngirlsdad,
It must be liberating to go through live without the ravages of intelligence.

[timetorevolt]

Just because you and McSame repeat it over and over? Since that seems to be the case, go to the blackboard and write this 100 times, THE SURGE WAS SMOKE AND MIRRORS. There... that should do it.

[markusmarkus]

John McIIIrd - but, but, but the surge!!!!!!

[AmandaBC]

Needless to say, anyone outside the US already knew that.

Reality is **NEVER** what the US government and its propa_ganda arm (the MSM) say it is...

[timetorevolt]

Most of MSM so called journalist repeated the crap just like they repeated the lie about WMD. Chris Matthews, Lou Dobbs, all the Nut cases on Faux News, Brian Williams, BIG HEAD Stephonopalus ....etc... They have nos shame...Th­ey continue to feed us lies from the Bush administration and never apologize for their lies. And they wonder why we have no respect for them...

[AmandaBC]

Needless to say, anyone outside the US already knew that.

Reality is **NEVER** what the US government and its propaganda arm (the MSM) say it is...