A very interesting story from Spiegel.com

[GaryC 7]

This is just a small excerpt from a story in Spiegel.com. It's just to long to post the entire thing but I thought I would give you a small highlight from it. If you have the time please read the whole thing.

An Irritating Contraction

Ramadi is an irritating contradiction of almost everything the world thinks it knows about Iraq -- it is proof that the US military is more successful than the world wants to believe. Ramadi demonstrates that large parts of Iraq -- not just Anbar Province, but also many other rural areas along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers -- are essentially pacified today. This is news the world doesn't hear: Ramadi, long a hotbed of unrest, a city that once formed the southwestern tip of the notorious "Sunni Triangle," is now telling a different story, a story of Americans who came here as liberators, became hated occupiers and are now the protectors of Iraqi reconstruction.

......

Part 2: The Whole Story

The world has become deaf to the word "peace" -- at least when conversations turn to Iraq. It is as if the world were blind to the possibility that the situation in this country straddling the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers could be anything different from the constant stream of increasingly devastating films of the latest car bombings. For most people, Iraq has become nothing but a series of attacks, a collection of images of bombings and victims, a tale of failure, a book about historical guilt and a symbol of the moral decline of the United States of America.

But the real story in Iraq cannot be summed up in short news clips and quick, shaky television images. Body counts and names of the dead tell only part of the story of Iraq today. Research for this story took me on a three-week journey throughout the country, my fourth trip to Iraq in as many years. Under the protection of the US military, it led us to the northern city of Mosul and its suburbs, to Ramadi and to Baghdad. The military did not choose our destinations, SPIEGEL did. Apart from a few technical and strategic details, nothing was censored.

....

A Decline in Terror Attacks

In many cities and villages in Iraq's 18 provinces, terrorist networks are either weaker or have been destroyed entirely. The number of attacks is declining, as is the number of racially or religiously motivated killings. In January, death squads executed, murdered or tortured 1,800 Iraqis to death, merely because they were Sunnis or Shiites or Christians. Indeed, religious hatred was the cause of dozens of deaths every day.

In June, 600 people were killed for the same reasons -- a number that is still atrocious, unacceptable and horrific -- but at least it represents a decline. And while these numbers are still disappointing, they do give reason for hope.

Earlier this year, thousands of attacks occurred every week, and hundreds died daily. It seemed that terror reigned supreme, that its resources were inexhaustible. But now the trend appears to be reversing itself. Terror is weakening, and its leaders, most recently al-Qaida's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are issuing dramatic appeals to radical communities not to give up the fight. This is a good sign. "They are no longer on schedule," Petraeus says. "They have a problem."

One is that Iraq has come a long way in developing its own security forces. There are now 194,000 police officers in uniform, and the Iraqi army has 154,000 newly recruited soldiers. These organizations are still not as fully functional as they should be, and there have been many reports of corruption and religious activities, but there's been a noticeable shift nonetheless. In the past few weeks, the Americans were not the only ones capturing and killing terrorists. The Iraqis have also been successful. The local police forces, for example, regularly obtain information directly from the population that leads them to the terrorists' weapons caches, training camps and bomb factories.

Something is happening in Iraq that is consistently concealed behind images of bombings. The situation that the White House and its deceptive advisors had erroneously predicted before their invasion -- that the troops would be greeted with candy and flowers -- could in fact still come true. That's already the case in many places. It's as if the terrorists have lost popular support, as if their acts of violence have driven the Iraqi people into the arms of the enemy, the Americans.

But there is little talk of these developments outside of Iraq. The world continues to debate the Bush administration's lies, which hang over the entire operation like a curse, concealing its successes. The lies are legend, and they continue to color the picture the world paints of Iraq.

...

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/...,499154,00.html

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

This passage says alot. Thanks Mr.media.

The world has become deaf to the word "peace" -- at least when conversations turn to Iraq. It is as if the world were blind to the possibility that the situation in this country straddling the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers could be anything different from the constant stream of increasingly devastating films of the latest car bombings. For most people, Iraq has become nothing but a series of attacks, a collection of images of bombings and victims, a tale of failure, a book about historical guilt and a symbol of the moral decline of the United States of America.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

This passage says alot. Thanks Mr. media.

Der Spiegel, of course, is Mr. Media, too.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

This passage says alot. Thanks Mr. media.

Der Spiegel, of course, is Mr. Media, too.

Really?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Gary, you should read this publication more often. They have lots of perspective to offer.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It's tricky. Undoubtedly progress is being made in certain areas - but when you read an article like that it frequently tends to be accompanied by one like this.

175 dead is nothing that should be blown off.

And then there was the assassination of the Governor of Qadisiya (Southern Iraq) at the weekend.

Still plenty of chaos to go around it seems.

[GaryC 7]

It's tricky. Undoubtedly progress is being made in certain areas - but when you read an article like that it frequently tends to be accompanied by one like this.

175 dead is nothing that should be blown off.

And then there was the assassination of the Governor of Qadisiya (Southern Iraq) at the weekend.

Still plenty of chaos to go around it seems.

But the area that the chaos is getting smaller every day. Large parts of Iraq are now peaceful and well on the way to recovery. We all see the bad. Some of us need to recognise the good also.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I don't think anyone is really averse to 'seeing the good', and contrary to the antagonistic talking points on the likes of Bill "I spy a traitor" O'Reilly - I honestly doubt that anyone wants to the see the US military fail. Something good must come out of this - even if you are of the opinion that the invasion was (conceptually) a mistake to begin with and that the subsequent post-invasion planning was rather poorly handled.

Edited August 14, 2007 by Number 6

[GaryC 7]

Gary, you should read this publication more often. They have lots of perspective to offer.

Believe it or not I read a great deal from a lot of sources. The Internet is a wonderful thing. I read the NYTimes, NYPost, Washington post, LA Times and I sometimes stumble into things like Der Spiegel. Although I listen to Rush and watch Fox I do not take that as my only source for news. I am no robot and I look at all sides, although I do fall on the side of conservatives.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Gary, you should read this publication more often. They have lots of perspective to offer.

Believe it or not I read a great deal from a lot of sources. The Internet is a wonderful thing. I read the NYTimes, NYPost, Washington post, LA Times and I sometimes stumble into things like Der Spiegel. Although I listen to Rush and watch Fox I do not take that as my only source for news. I am no robot and I look at all sides, although I do fall on the side of conservatives.

I know you're no robot. The discussions here have shown that time and again.

I like reading articles from Der Spiegel. They're typically well investigated and well written.

Still need to find the time to read this one completely.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I think the biggest clue will be the general's report in September. If there really has been no significant progress from the surge it would seem likely that the calls for a withdrawal will gain pace.

[Queen Jenn 0]

Thanks for posting this. There is still much need for improvement over there, but it's good to hear that good things are happening. I've personally heard from several people who have family members serving over there and get information along the same lines. It's good to see it printed in the media.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Thanks for posting this. There is still much need for improvement over there, but it's good to hear that good things are happening. I've personally heard from several people who have family members serving over there and get information along the same lines. It's good to see it printed in the media.

The rather left leaning media no less. Der Spiegel is not what one would consider conservative.

[almaty 19]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Truck bombings that killed and wounded hundreds in northern Iraq were a "trademark al Qaeda event" designed to sway U.S. public opinion against the war, a U.S. general said Wednesday.

The attacks targeted the Yazidi sect, a mainly Kurdish religious minority in northern Iraq.

1 of 3 The Tuesday attacks, which targeted Kurdish villages of the Yazidi religious minority, were attempts to "break the will" of the American people and show that the U.S. troop escalation -- the "surge" -- is failing, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon said.

Officials said at least 250 people were killed and 320 wounded Tuesday when suicide truck bombers attacked the villages of Qahtaniya, al-Jazeera and Tal Uzair, in northern Iraq near the border with Syria.

The bombings highlight the kind of sectarian tensions the troop surge was designed to stop.

Al Qaeda in Iraq is predominantly Sunni, and Mixon said members of the Yazidi religious minority have received threatening letters, called "night letters," telling them "to leave because they are infidels."

"This is an act of ethnic cleansing, if you will -- almost genocide when you consider the fact the target they attacked and the fact that these Yazidis, out in a very remote part of Nineveh province, where there is very little security and really no security required to this point," Mixon said. Watch general explain why al Qaeda targets Yazidis »

Sunni militants, including members of al Qaeda in Iraq, have targeted Yazidis in the area before.

Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said there were three suicide trucks carrying two tons of explosives. At least 30 houses and buildings were destroyed.

Khalaf said the carnage looks like the aftermath of a "mini-nuclear explosion." More bodies are expected to be found. See a timeline of deadliest attacks in Iraq »

The massacre comes ahead of next month's report to Congress by Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker on progress in Iraq.

"We still have a great deal of work to do against al Qaeda in Iraq, and we have great deal of work to do against al Qaeda networks in northern Iraq," Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesman, said Wednesday.

The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed Sunni extremists for the "monstrous crime." He said a committee has been formed to investigate.

Ashraf Qazi, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative for Iraq, called the attack an "abominable crime aimed at widening the sectarian and ethnic divide in Iraq."

Qazi urged Iraqi authorities to bolster their efforts to protect minorities.

The Yazidi sect is a mainly Kurdish minority, an ancient group that worships seven angels, in the form of peacocks, who are subordinate to the supreme god who created the universe. Find out more about the sect »

A couple of related incidents in the spring highlighted the tensions between Sunnis and Yazidis.

In April, a Kurdish Yazidi teenage girl was brutally beaten, kicked and stoned to death in northern Iraq by other Yazidis in what authorities said was an "honor killing" after she was seen with a Sunni Muslim man. Although she had not married him or converted, her attackers believed she had.

The Yazidis condemn mixing with people of another faith.

That killing is said to have spurred the killings of about two dozen Yazidi men by Sunni Muslims in the Mosul area two weeks later.

Attackers affiliated with al Qaeda pulled 24 Yazidi men out of a bus and slaughtered them, according to a provincial.

Wow, it is allot better..in the old days, they would have killed 300 instead of 200..

Edited August 15, 2007 by almaty

[doodlebug 3]

Since when does the Spiegel catalog post articles?