Gates: Violence In Iraq Likely To Go Up

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday he expects the insurgents and terrorists in Iraq to accelerate their bombings and other attacks this summer before Gen. David Petraeus reports to Washington on whether he thinks the new U.S. strategy for securing Baghdad is working.

At a Pentagon news conference, Gates indicated that he believed the insurgents would step up the violence as a way of influencing decisions in Washington about whether and when to reduce U.S. forces in Iraq.

--
"We are dealing with a smart, agile, thinking enemy," Gates said. "They are technologically sophisticated and therefore they know what's going on in this country. We should be prepared for them to make a very strong effort to increase the level of violence in July and August. My hope is that anticipating it will allow us to thwart it."

--
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appearing with Gates, said that attempts by the insurgents to target the events of September "would make sense from their standpoint," since they know that Washington can be influenced by changes in the level of violence in Iraq.

Read more: http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/17274892.htm

[Solly Mack]

1. LMAO

"...up the violence as a way of influencing decisions in Washington"

Terrorists influenced elections in Spain talking point


Gates is and always has been a piece of shit

[saigon68]

10. "Bring em on" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

[azurnoir]

2. Jeebus it's the old

its gotta get a lot worse before it gets better theory.

[Sapere aude]

3. So we should stay there to decrease the violence right?

If we stay the violence will go up, if we leave the violence will go up. So why stay and get killed when the violence will go up no matter what? Only if you believe the violence will not go up if we stay should we stay. That ain't going to happen per the General.

[ClintonTyree]

4. We have to stay the course....

we'll outlast them, that's what we'll do. On their own turf, on their own terms.......we'll outlast them. Just a few more months and then a few more after that. Just a few thousand more troops and then a few thousand more after that. Just a half trillion dollars more and a half trillion more after that .......we'll outlast them. They're in their last throes, you know. This is their last big build-up, their last ditch attempt to influence our political position in the middle east. We can't cut and run now or the terrorists win. Total victory is just around the corner but ONLY if we stay the course. We'll outlast them.

HEAVY :sarcasm:

[liberal N proud]

5. That is what they meant bu surge!

[lyonn]

6. George was right, time lines give the enemy too much info

and will fight accordingly. Time line for pulling out bad idea, time line for this surge is good, according to our idiot leader. Then when Petreus reports in Sept. and things haven't improved there will be a change in strategy!?

So now there will be an increase in our troop deaths and injuries due this "new surge", according to George.

And Congress has approved more money with no strings for a plan that is doomed to fail. This surge was to improve conditions in Baghdad so the politicians could work out their differences in an attempt to settle the sectarian violence. Hummm, they aren't even getting close.

[Doctor_J]

7. Yes, it's the "More violence means we're winning" algorithm,

which sometimes comes out as "Less violence means we're winning".

[theHandpuppet]

8. So more death and destruction means the surge is working...

... and will only prove the desperation of the insurgents?

Yep, I can hear it now.

[unkachuck]

9. c'mon bob....

"We should be prepared for them to make a very strong effort to increase the level of violence in July and August."

....well bob, your job is to keep that from happening, and if you can't, that means your 'surge' isn't working; and if your 'surge' isn't working, why are we in Iraq?

....c'mon bob, sooner or later, you'll declare victory and pull the troops out of Iraq anyway....why not save a few American lives and make it sooner?

[Barrett808]

11. Gates on Iraq: "We can't turn it around overnight"

Source: AFP

Gates on Iraq: "We can't turn it around overnight"
by Jim Mannion

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday played down expectations for rapid progress in Iraq and said US officials were looking more to local groups than the Iraqi government to aid reconciliation.

"I mean, we're as impatient for this thing to turn in a positive direction as anybody, maybe more so," Gates told reporters.

"And, you know, I'd give anything to have to stop doing as many of these condolence letters that I'm writing. It's a terrible thing and people are suffering.

"But we can't turn it around overnight," he said.

He denied that his top military man in Iraq, General David Petraeus, was developing a new strategy to quell the daily bloodshed.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070524/pl_afp/usiraqmilitarygates

[Zenlitened]

12. Sorry, boss, but I can't have that assignment ready for you by tomorrow.

Would four and half years from now be okay?

:crazy:

[movonne]

13. Nor has he turned it around in this last 4 years...

[Kikosexy2]

19. my words exactly...

and it won't be turned around in another 4 years either...face it...it's a lost cause....failure...like the beloved Chimperor....

[Tarheel_Dem]

14. They're getting out in front of the highly anticipated...

progress report from Gen. Petraeus in the fall. They know they're gonna get their money, and they are just trying to lower expectations. Get used to it people, we're never leaving Iraq, and for this, I am deeply saddened.

[Kagemusha]

18. Of course not, we have to fight Al Qaeda there.

Sigh.

[RiverStone]

15. And he would say the same thing 5 years from now...

Thankfully, he will no longer be Sec of Defense - assuming the DEMS don't continue to implode.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Why not?

It took us a few days to drive in.

[tabasco]

17. As expected, already lowering expectations for the bogus September report.

The oil barons will not give up the goose that lays golden eggs until we pry it from their greedy, murderous claws.

What part of this do the Dems not understand??

[BikeWriter]

20. "It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." ronald dumsfeld

[Honeycombe8]

21. Violence increasing in Iraq? Well, duh. That's been going on for some time, now. nt