Originally Posted by TheChosenOne

Xerxes,



You have really misinterpreted my post. I was responding to a part in Versus's post about him stating that the people in the middle east will NEVER except western values or views of the world.



I never said it wasn't. One would have to be completely ignorant to think that it hasn't. I used those two examples, one that has inference to before we were there and one that has inference to after we came that demonstrates that Versus's statement is indeed wrong.



It's still more or less just a rural phenomon. But like I stated, this is even changing, albeit slowly.



Xerxes, the man was a lunatic! He remained defiant and refused to accept the reality of the sitution until we were actually invading where he subsequently went into hiding. His rhetoric before we invaded was that we couldn't defeat his army. Ohh I'm sure somewhere up in the hamster that ran his wheel he knew he was $$#$%# but publicly he stated his forces would triumph. But I'm glad you read shek's articles and now realize your mistake.

ExNavyAmerican,



I'm sorry, but where are you getting your information from?



Once again, where are you getting your information from? By all means this isn't the case. I'm a Operations/Intel Sargeant on the ground in the southern part of the Babil Province. Attacks in our AO and AOI are on the rise. Albeit I'm still 5 hours north of Basra, I see plenty of reports of 'activity' in those southern regions.



The body count for British troops is very mis leading and by no means can be associated with success. First, the British for the most part have always had operations in MND-CS which has always been a less violatile area due to it's overhelming Shi'ite population. The relative British troop level has been quite low since the initial invasion. That is why I believe Ray sums it up in this sentence quite well.



We have seen a huge spike of attacks south of Baghdad in the last couple weeks since the security crack down in Baghdad started. Is there a correlation? I'm sure but that is yet to be determined. The majority of these attacks are carried out by the Mahdi Army. The attacks have become more complex in every nature. British troops pulling out will only embolden the Mahdi Army. The Iraqi army is a hit and miss as to what units and leaders are actually effective. The southern areas may very well be in control of effective Iraqi units but my skepticism remains 'strong' and 'unwavering'. Have you heard of Iraqi units conducting joint raids and 'pocked' belongings from the search? Probably not....nothing like stealing from the countrymen you are supposed to be protecting. It's becoming protcol to search all Iraqi individuals after joint raid operations because of this.

And don't even get me started on how just because 70% of the people voted that it induces a democracy. Shek entails part of it above. There is indeed much more.