When "success" is really FAILURE

Isn't it clear to everyone by now that the entire U.S. war in Iraq, and along with it the premature claims of "success" in the so-called "surge" of U.S. troops in Iraq, was in fact a giant fiasco? Didn't then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claim "spectacular success" for the U.S. war in Afghanistan in 2002? How has that "success" played out?

If you are on of those "optimists" who has supported these "successful" wars that never seem to end, then how do you explain the renewed violence reported from Iraq today (see below) and the reservations expressed in the NY Times piece below (i.e. things "left underdone - read "FAILURES") regarding the U.S. war in Iraq as U.S. forces try to disengage six years and six months after George W. Bush decided to order the U.S. invasion of that land of sinking sand?

Of course Gen. Ray Odierno is happy to blame Iran for the U.S. failure in Iraq while Iraq PM Nouri al Maliki is happy to blame Syria. And Gen. Stanley McChrystal is happy to also scapegoat Iran for the failed U.S. military mission on Afghanistan. Failure is always some one else's fault! Success knows many fathers. Failure is a bastard.

TWO items below:

Eighteen killed, dozens wounded in Iraq attacks

Quote:

by Bassem al-Anbari 3:04 pm EDT Mon 28 Sep 2009 RAMADI, Iraq (AFP) – At least 18 people, most of them members of Iraq's security forces, were killed and dozens wounded in bomb attacks on Monday, the worst violence to hit the country in more than two weeks. In the deadliest incident, a suicide attacker killed seven police and wounded 10 when he blew up a water tanker packed with explosives at a quick response unit's headquarters on the highway from the western city of Ramadi towards Jordan and Syria. A police officer, who gave the toll, said the attack was carried out 35 kilometres (20 miles) west of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, which was a key insurgent base in the aftermath of the US-led invasion in 2003. ~~~snip~~~ Elsewhere on Monday, five soldiers were killed and 28 people -- including nine troops and an unknown number of policemen -- were wounded by back-to-back bombs in western Baghdad, an interior ministry official said. ~~~snip~~~ In a further attack, in the southern province of Diwaniyah, a bomb went off inside a minibus, killing three people and wounding five, a hospital official said. In the restive northern city of Mosul, two policemen were killed and two wounded by a roadside bomb that targeted a patrol in the centre of the city at around 3:00 pm (1200 GMT), a police official said. A policeman was also killed in similar circumstances in Baquba, north of Baghdad. Monday's death toll of 18 was the highest since September 10, when at least 26 people were killed in violence across the country. The number of violent deaths in Iraq hit a 13-month high in August, raising fresh concerns about stability after the government admitted that security is worsening. Government statistics showed that 456 people -- 393 civilians, 48 police and 15 Iraqi soldiers -- were killed last month. That was the highest such toll since July 2008, when 465 died. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sent extra troops to the west of the country three weeks ago to secure the border with Syria, which he has repeatedly accused of giving terrorists the shelter needed to mount attacks inside Iraq.

Ask John Burns: Ending the War in Iraq

Quote:

Monday, September 28, 2009, 2:00 am Ask John Burns: Ending the War in Iraq By The New York Times This week, John F. Burns, The Times’s chief foreign correspondent, will be taking questions on the end of the American war in Iraq. In February, the newly inaugurated President Obama announced that all combat troops would be withdrawn by August 2010, seven and a half years after the war began, and the remaining troops by 2011. Lars Klove for The New York Times But with relative calm in Iraq and instability expanding quickly in Afghanistan, Americans and their leaders increasingly see Iraq as the war already fought. “We’re so out of here,” a Marine officer said in July in Anbar province, once the heart of the insurgency there. Does America seem intent on leaving Iraq, no matter what happens? Should we? Would a return to wide-scale sectarian violence, or the opening of a new front between Kurds and Arabs, obligate U.S. soldiers to stay? What was accomplished and what was left undone? Mr. Burns covered the run-up to the war in 2002 and 2003 from inside Saddam’s Iraq, then served as Baghdad bureau chief from 2003 to 2007.

Another good day for war profiteers

This is GOOD news for war profiteering "defense" contractors who will be paid to replace this asset because, you know, failure to do so would put our troops and the U.S. military mission at risk. Taxpayers prepare to shell out a few million extra. That's nothing between friends, right? FREEDOM doesn't come cheap. You betcha the original crusaders wish they had this piece of magic to keep an eye on the wily Muslims. If they had maybe they would have won, but then again, maybe not.

Drone crashes in northern Iraq, US military says

QUOTE

By CHELSEA J. CARTER, Associated Press Writer 11:36 am EDT Sat 26 Sep 2009 BAGHDAD – A U.S. military drone crashed Saturday in northern Iraq, hitting a regional office of Iraq's largest Sunni political party in an area that remains an insurgent stronghold, an American military official said. The unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle crashed into the local office of the Iraqi Islamic Party in Mosul, an area the U.S. military has called the last stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq. Drones have been a mainstay of the U.S. war effort, offering round-the-clock airborne "eyes" watching over road convoys and tracking insurgent movements and occasionally unleashing missiles on a target. The U.S. military did not immediately identify the type of drone that crashed in Mosul where the aerial vehicles are routinely used to track insurgents planting explosives. There was no immediate indication the drone was shot down, said Maj. Derrick Cheng, a U.S. military spokesman. There were no reports of injuries. Cheng said the drone struck the party office at about 7 a.m., damaging the roof of the building. American troops recovered the drone and were working with local officials to assess the required repairs, he said. Cheng said the cause of the crash was under investigation. ~~~cont'd~~~