By what measure is the "surge" in Iraq working?

Question

Hey knucklehead - that 5 per 1000 death rate was BEFORE the war....

http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/article.php?id=415

Answer 1

Dittman.... you might want to check your numbers, big fellah.

Answer 2

The violence has decreased 30% YTD compared to last year. The number of car bomb factories and IEDs has decreased. The reason why they are using gasoline and chlorine bombs now is because some cells have ran out of conventional military explosives. Police stations are not attacked like they were last year.

If you want to see something really interesting, look at the death per thousand at the CIA's online factbook. Iraq had 5 deaths per 1,000 people. Germany and Italy have twice as many deaths per 1,000 in 2006. Every European country and the U.S. has a higher death rate per 1,000 than Iraq. They are also breading quicker than most countries.

Answer 3

The Vietnam analogy doesn't work. Except for the two weeks of the TET Offensive, an American could walk or take public transportation from the embassy to the airport, unarmed.

By the time Vietnam fell all US Combat Troops had been gone for years. Vietnam was never this bad.

Answer 4

"we see the light at the end of the tunnel"
The generals have claimed this is cutting down on the attacks, but the bombs have not stopped and the insurgents have just become more brazen. All this has done is stretch our military even more by forcing them to stay above their 12 month tour of duties and bring them back by shaving 2-3 months off their stateside time.

Answer 5

By no measure. Because it's totally NOT working just like the Iraq War isn't working and Bush's brain isn't working.

Answer 6

Let's measure it against Vietnam. Hmmmmm, We did that in Vietnam.....up to 500,000 troops. We still lost. Scary!!

Answer 7

by the spend more money and commit more troops = victory measure

Answer 8

there seems to have been a surge in the violence, does that count?