Reply #3: A part of this that sticks out to me is this:

[Nordmadr]

"Meanwhile at a briefing in Baghdad the US military said there had been a decline in suicide bombings in November to 23, the lowest figure in seven months. US and Iraqi forces had also discovered 301 weapons caches, the biggest number in a single month this year".


Now this news can be spun both positive and negative, with the reality likely somewhere in the middle. A decrease in suicide bombings could simply be a tactical shift and not really indicate anything positive or negative. Furthermore, finding 301 caches of weapons speaks primarily to me that there are more caches out there to be found, which means that the Iraqi insurgents are becoming more weaponized and organized. If we have been there all this time and are continuing to find increasing stockpiles of weapons, that does not convince me we are winning.

What good does it do us to sweep an area, kill a few people, lose a few people, only to have the insurgents resurface after we have left? If we do not have enough troops to secure an area after we have taken it, we are not making any progress.


Maybe I'm just being pessimistic and tired of hearing about and seeing all this death.


Olaf