iraq – Page 6 – Moe Lane

#rsrh The Lancet 2 Iraq Survey, FLAWED?

This paper considers the second Lancet survey of mortality in Iraq published in October 2006. It presents some evidence suggesting ethical violations to the survey’s respondents including endangerment, privacy breaches and violations in obtaining informed consent. Breaches of minimal disclosure standards examined include non-disclosure of the survey’s questionnaire, data-entry form, data matching anonymised interviewer identifications with households and sample design. The paper also presents some evidence relating to data fabrication and falsification, which falls into nine broad categories. This evidence suggests that this survey cannot be considered a reliable or valid contribution towards knowledge about the extent of mortality in Iraq since 2003.

Via the Corner (and probably Hot Air, soon). For those who don’t remember, the Lancet 2 study was the one that claimed that 601K people had been killed in Iraq between its liberation in 2003 and 2006. This would have worked out to about 2% of the population dying in three years: to put this in perspective, this is the rough equivalent of the USA losing the population of Los Angeles and Chicago in three years without anybody noticing. For that matter, the death rate in Iraq has been decreasing since 2000, if this survey is to be believed*. Continue reading #rsrh The Lancet 2 Iraq Survey, FLAWED?

DNI nominee Clapper unlikely to be called out on WMD issue.

Theoretically, the confirmation hearings for proposed DNI James Clapper could be an opportunity for fireworks… only not in the way that one would think. It turns out that he’s a potential lightning rod for criticism from the Left:

President Obama’s choice to be the next director of national intelligence supported the view that Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq sent weapons and documents to Syria in the weeks before the 2003 U.S. invasion.

[snip]

On Iraq, Gen. Clapper said in an interview with The Washington Times in 2004 that “I think probably in the few months running up prior to the onset of combat that … there was probably an intensive effort to disperse into private homes, move documentation and materials out of the country. I think there are any number of things that they would have done.”

Continue reading DNI nominee Clapper unlikely to be called out on WMD issue.

We are finishing up the handover of security for Iraqi cities to the Iraqi government.

(Via AoSHQ) It has been declared a holiday, and for good reason. They’re getting their country… well, ‘back’ is the wrong word; under the Baathists it was never really ‘theirs’ to begin with. But they do take responsibility for their cities and towns now.

Iraqis Celebrate Day of National Sovereignty Marking US Troop Pullback

Iraqis are staging a national celebration to mark the impending June 30th withdrawal of U.S. troops from most cities, towns and villages. Celebrations in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, include music, dance and poetry.

I think that this is a nicely iconic image:

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

If you were wondering who this Evan Kohlmann person is…

…as found here: he’s the guy that did this pre-surge interview in 2007 for Salon where he breezily declared that:

“The U.S. is failing miserably at containing the spread of al-Qaida.”
“The idea of Western-style democracy in Iraq doesn’t appeal to anyone.”
“I don’t think any number of new troops is going to help unless we’re going to station troops on every single corner of every single street in every single city in Iraq.”

Yeah, I know: oops. Continue reading If you were wondering who this Evan Kohlmann person is…

Advice for the President: how to handle the antiwar Democrats.

No, really.

I read with some interest this article which describes a supposed Blue-on-Blue fight looming over the upcoming reduction of troops:

Congressional Democrats’ misgivings about President Barack Obama’s plan to reduce troop levels in Iraq has set the stage for potentially major conflicts between Capitol Hill and the White House in the months ahead.

Obama’s announcement Friday that he will leave between 35,000 and 50,000 troops in Iraq after August 2010 brought lukewarm responses from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Both leaders have publicly questioned the decision to leave that many troops there indefinitely.

Also causing consternation is the president’s decision to finish the drawdown in 18 months. As a candidate, Obama had promised a complete withdrawal within 16 months.

Being a kind and generous soul who understands that we’re all in this together, on behalf of the neoconservative movement I am here to offer the President a little advice on how to keep antiwar legislators in line. We did it for eight years, after all; two of which were years where our party was ostensibly not the one running Congress. Heck, our best work was done between 2006-2008. So you can believe that we know that we’re talking about. Continue reading Advice for the President: how to handle the antiwar Democrats.

Christian Brose: Obama should have thanked Bush for the surge.

Stop bitterly laughing like that. You’ll scare the kids.

(Via Hot Air Headlines) This is in the context of mentioning President Obama’s recent military speech, and in the context of discussing the fairly obvious – to people with functioning neural tissue, at least – points that the President is coasting on Bush’s successful surge strategy; and that our failure to actually have an ambassador to Iraq at the moment is, put simply, dumb. With that out of the way, Brose went on to ask the President to at least note the victories of the previous administration. Brose did not also ask for a magical elixir that would cure cancer, warts, and the galloping staggers, although I’m not sure why. He didn’t stand that much less of chance of getting it (bolding mine):
Continue reading Christian Brose: Obama should have thanked Bush for the surge.

I’m surprised that this hasn’t seen more play.

After all, we have a Democrat as President: it’s acceptable to pretend to be for freedom and democracy again.

(Via Holger Awakens, via Tennesseefree.com)

Three things:
1). What do we know about this guy? Or when it was made?
2). If we had listened to Obama in 2006, this guy would probably be dead right now.
3). Not In Your Name, antiwar movement.
Not then.
Not now.
Not ever.

Crossposted at RedState.

Not In Your Name Watch: “Democratic dawn in Iraq.”

When you’re losing The Guardian…

You’ve got a problem. From William Shawcross:

The weekend’s elections in Iraq were a huge success for the Iraqi people. The remarkably peaceful day of voting on Saturday – and the interim results – give good reason to hope Iraq really is on the way to building a decent society.

[snip]

The peaceful polling was remarkable and so were the results. All the Islamic parties lost ground, especially that associated with the so-called “Shia firebrand”, Moqtada al-Sadr, whose share of the vote went down from 11% to 3%. The principal Sunni Islamic party, the Islamic Party of Iraq, was wiped out.

The only Islamic party to gain ground was the Dawa party of the Shia prime minister Nouri al-Maliki – and even that party dropped the word Islamic from its name. The power of Maliki, who has emerged a stronger leader than expected, is further enhanced by these elections. Now no Islamic parties will be able to control any provinces on their own. The election is thus a big defeat for Iran which had hoped that Shia religious parties would control the south and enable Iran to turn them into a mini Shia republic.

(Via Hot Air Headlines)

Continue reading Not In Your Name Watch: “Democratic dawn in Iraq.”

Not In Your Name, International ANSWER.

Or Code Pink’s, for that matter. Or anybody else who thinks that hanging with them is neat.

Not then.
Not now.
Not ever.

Iraqis vote in landmark elections
Iraqis are electing new provincial councils in the first nationwide vote in four years, with the Sunni minority expected to turn out in strength.

After a slow start, correspondents said voting was brisk, including among Sunni Muslims, who largely boycotted the last elections.

The vote is seen as a test of Iraq’s stability ahead of a general election due later this year.

Security is tight and thousands of observers are monitoring the polls.

Continue reading Not In Your Name, International ANSWER.