Evidence shows the surge is working, in your opinion is it?

Question

The U.S. military said Tuesday that a Marine was killed in fighting west of the capital, pushing the American death toll for July to at least 73, the lowest in eight months.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070731/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

Answer 1

Of course it is.

When the Iraqi soccer team won and they celebrated in the streets, there should have been mass bloodshed through IED's There was one isolated incident. Tragic, yes, but not as bad as it could have been.

Answer 2

I think you came to the wrong conclusion. Just because less soldiers died, doesnt mean that the surge is working. To see if the surge was working, you'd have to look at overall violence which includes Iraqis. However, the US media doesnt report those types of things often.

From the article:
The No. 2 commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, expressed cautious optimism last week about the downturn. He said casualties had increased as U.S. forces expanded operations into militant strongholds as part of a five-month-old security crackdown aimed at clamping off violence in Baghdad, but were going down as Americans gained control of the areas.

Answer 3

Was the surge meant to lower the U.S. death toll? If that's the case, and this continues, then yes, it's working.

However, I believe the surge was meant to curb overall violence and help establish stability in the country. Those are measured by things other than U.S. deaths.

Quite frankly, I hope it works so we can get out.

Answer 4

only for security in the green zone.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070731/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq
This is fro.m the same article. read the last line.

"I believe security is critical to providing the government of Iraq the breathing space it needs to work toward political national reconciliation and economic growth, which are themselves critical to a stable Iraq," Mullen said. "Barring that, no amount of troops and no amount of time will make much of a difference.

Answer 5

July 2006 there were only 43 casualties....

It gets really hot there at this time, that is why the government is taking a nice long vacation!

Answer 6

i saw the report. i tend not to trust people who Bush nominates....and i do believe that celebrating the American death toll down to 73 should not be considered a success....

the Bush administration owes more to ours soldiers in Iraq who are taking bullets for some obscure version of winning this debacle in Iraq!!!!!!

Answer 7

In terms of conflicts the death toll has been very low. The soldiers know when they sign up that they may meet danger or even death serving in the military. According to the Senators and Reps that have been there, they think it is working and I tend to believe them more that that old blow hard, John Murtha who wants it to fail. I think that Bush needs to hammer home the fact that it is working and that now it looks as if we can win this thing. I think Americans want us to win and then come home.

Answer 8

With respect to military tactics, of course it's working, how could it not.
The question is: Is the gain in acceptable proportion to the investment of blood and treasure?

Personally I think it is but, time will tell if the gains can be held or will the cops leave and the rats act like cats again?

Answer 9

I'd like to think so but one month hardly represents a trend. Lets hope August will shed more light on the subject before we crack open the champagne.

Answer 10

From the article:

"It's an initial positive sign, but I would argue we need a bit more time to make an assessment whether it's a true trend," he said then

Inconclusive.

Answer 11

Only 73...terrific....what people seem to not realize is that any soldiers that are dying are too many when the Iraqi govt. refuses to get off their azzes and fix their country. That US soldier died while the Iraqi parliament was on vacation.