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A 2007 Top Ten I can get behind


I can take or leave year-end Top Ten lists on any subject, even the occasional ones I've posted here. However, I think Juan Cole's Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2007 is too important not to pass along.

I'll summarize:

  • 10. The US public no longer sees Iraq as a central issue in the 2008 presidential campaign.
  • 9. There have been steps toward religious and political reconciliation in Iraq in 2007.
  • 8. The US troop surge stopped the civil war that had been raging between Sunni Arabs and Shiites in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
  • 7. Iran was supplying explosively formed projectiles ... b) to Salafi Jihadi ... guerrilla groups in Iraq.
  • 6. The US overthrow of the Baath regime and military occupation of Iraq has helped liberate Iraqi women.
  • 5. Some progress has been made by the Iraqi government in
    meeting the "benchmarks" worked out with the Bush administration.
  • 4. The Sunni Arab "Awakening Councils" ... are reconciling with the Shiite government of PM Nuri al-Maliki ...
  • 3. The Iraqi north is relatively quiet and a site of economic growth.
  • 2. Iraq has been "calm" in fall of 2007 and the Iraqi public ... is not eager for the US to depart.
  • 1. The reduction in violence in Iraq is mostly because of the escalation in the number of US troops, or "surge."



    • Myths or straw men? You decide - but give this a read.

    Rick December 26, 2007 - 1:33pm
    Rick's diary | printer friendly version | digg
    ( categories: Iraq )

    Myths usually are built around truth at some level.

    Most of these are just lies.

    Gordon December 26, 2007 - 8:50pm
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