Some Iraq Posts

Some interesting stuff out there.

Thanks to NickS, IraqNow lists some interesting stats about Iraq, most positive, some not so much.

Saudi Arabia contributes more jihadi warriors than its closest rival, Syria, by a factor of five. I think that's why Saudi security forces fight Al Qaeda so much. The object isn't to capture or kill them, so much as convince them that life is easier in Iraq. Of course, once the United States eventually leaves Iraq, these foreign fighters are going to head right back to Saudi Arabia, and be a problem for them all over again.

Another interesting tidbit:

Next time some uninformed yobsucker kvetches to you that coalition forces haven't been able to restore electricity to Baghdad, point out that currently, nationwide electricity production is actually 15 percent higher than prewar levels. (4541 Mw in July 05 compared to 3958 before the war.) Baghdad hasn't quite caught up to its prewar levels yet (I can hear Riverbend complaining from here), but you must remember that Saddam's government diverted power to Baghdad from all over the Euphrates River Valley and to loyal cities and areas, at the expense of the outlying towns.

Actually, it's all interesting.

Cake or Death, a pro-war conservative, is meanwhile beginning to fear we could actually lose the war, largely due to a failure of morale on the homefront.

Bill Roggio suggests the uptick in our boys' deaths is due to the high-impact "River War" strategy, in which our troops are pushing the insurgents into a smaller and smaller safe zone.

Not sure what it means, but anti-war liberal Democrat VonK sent me that last bit (he also sent the IraqNow link, as did NickS.).

Pointed Out By Dave From Garfield Ridge: Wolf Blitzer says an "armored-up Humvee" could have survived a massive shaped-charge bomb. Apparently clueless that the bomb in question flipped over a thirty-one ton armored LAV.

But an armored jeep? That would have withstood the blast.

posted by Ace at 12:18 PM

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