Boot: Both Decrease And Increase In Troop Deaths Prove The Surge Is Success
Boot: Both Decrease And Increase In Troop Deaths Prove The Surge Is Success
Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Max Boot is one of the most vocal supporters of a neocon foreign policy. He says those who favor withdrawal from Iraq engage in “wishful thinking” and claims “there is copious evidence” that Iran is training al Qaeda. He said former CENTCOM commander Adm. William Fallon’s hesitation to bomb Iran “embolden[ed] the mullahs,” and claimed that the recently-revealed Pentagon propaganda program is simply “part and parcel of the daily grind of Washington journalism.”
He has also been a vociferous defender of the Iraq troop surge. Today, in an online debate on the surge, Boot points to the overall decrease in troop deaths as evidence of its success:
I could cite statistics to show how the “surge”—not only an increase in the number of U.S. troops in Iraq but also a change in their strategy to emphasis classic counterinsurgency—has been paying off: Civilian deaths were down more than 80 percent and U.S. deaths down more than 60 percent between December 2006 and March 2008.
Just two days ago, however, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Boot argued that the recent increase in U.S. troop casualties showed the surge was working. Acknowledging that April was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since August (Boot says 52 soldiers died; in fact 54 did), Boot says the U.S. is approaching “the enemy’s defeat“:
More important, casualties cannot be looked at in a vacuum. A spike in casualties could be a sign that the enemy is gaining strength. Or it could be a sign that tough combat is under way that will lead to the enemy’s defeat and the creation of a more peaceful environment in the future. The latter was certainly the case with the casualty spike during the summer of 2007. … Unfortunate as the latest deaths are, they are in all likelihood a sign of things getting worse before they get better.
The right wing won’t let anything — even dozens of troop deaths — stop them from cheerleading for the Iraq war. The New York Daily News’ Michael Yon picks up Boot’s talking points, answering the question whether the increase in deaths shows that the surge’s progress has been lost:
[H]ere’s my short answer: no. We are taking more casualties now, just as we did in the first part of 2007, because we have taken up the next crucial challenge of this war: confronting the Shia militias. … That means, for the next few months, expect more blood, casualties and grim images of war. This may lead to a shift in the political debate inside the United States and more calls for rapid withdrawal. But on the ground in Iraq, it’s a sign of progress.
In other words: Heads I win, tails you lose.
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36 Responses to “Boot: Both Decrease And Increase In Troop Deaths Prove The Surge Is Success”
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Max Boot seems old enough to enlist. Anyone want to think of a reason he isn't walking the walk? Do you think he finds it easier to make a very comfortable living lying your children into war - rather than fighting it himself?
May 5th, 2008 at 6:41 pmI think these people have a form of retardation. The surge is going to work, no matter what, and whatever happens just proves that it is working.
They used to lock people like this up. Now they are running the country.
May 5th, 2008 at 6:41 pmBoot is absolutely right. Gas prices spiking is evidence that the surge is working, too. I hear northeasterners have been eating more vanilla ice cream. THAT'S evidence that the surge is working. So is the decrease in the number of trolls at TP.
(Of course, it should be noted that a drop in gasoline prices, decrease in consumption of vanilla ice cream, and an increase in troll activity would all also point to the success of the surge.)
May 5th, 2008 at 6:44 pmOf course, the biggest indicator of FAILURE in Iraq is the increasing number of dumbass statements coming out of the pie holes of f_cking morons like Boot.
May 5th, 2008 at 6:50 pmWhat's with the hair? I thought a kitten had become tangled up in his coif. Maybe it's a combover?
May 5th, 2008 at 6:55 pmEverything has to be evidence that we're "succeeding" because the only alternative is for jerks like Boot to admit they've been wrong the whole time and they are completely incapable of conceding error.
The troops dying in Iraq (or dying when they come home) are completely irrelevant to Boot and his ilk, because none of them are ever going to be in combat and none of their friends or family will, either. Typical pasty-faced elitist more than happy to play Risk with other people's lives.
May 5th, 2008 at 6:57 pmGlobalresearch has the real story of Petraeus and "the surge."
General Petraeus: Zionism’s Military Poodle: From Surge to Purge to Dirge, by Prof. James Petras
May 5th, 2008 at 7:00 pmhttp://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8893
The 28%ers think differently than most of us. Where we will look at the evidence and derive a conclusion from the facts and evidence, the 28%ers already know the answer. Bush said that we must invade Iraq (for whatever reason no one can really figure out, there are lots of competing ideas) so the sycophants twist facts and logic to meet the answer their God Bush gave them.
So He said and so it must be.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:01 pmThe very fact that clowns like Max Boot need to talk up the surge is evidence enough that it is a huge Republican failure that will be the albatross around the neck of every Republican running for office in 2008. As November approaches, there will be an ever-increasing desire from both sides to get the hell out of Iraq.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:01 pmCrackpot realists [Termed by C Wright Mills] never learn anything, even when the lessons are cuffing them roughly about the head and shoulders. They continue to pile on more of the same actions that got them into trouble in the first place, expecting to be seen as Churchillian heroes for staying the idiotic course they have set. They keep spinning the bad news, year after year after year, wearing out entire battalions of press officers, until they finally escape from the morass by leaving office. Afterward, they heap blame on their successors for “losing China” or “cutting and running.” -Robert Higgs
May 5th, 2008 at 7:07 pmNow that the war has started it's sixth year, why is anybody listening to these people? It was a debacle from the early stages and it continues to be. Too many people have died. But Boot and his ilk don't really care about the death and destruction they back. It's way past time for them to shut up.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:10 pmThat's right you whiny liberal wusses. Real progress is measured in body bags.
If you don't have the stomach for the fight. Go F yourself because we're going to have it anyway.
This message is brought to you by the party of fiscal responsibility and the culture of life.
(Puke.)
May 5th, 2008 at 7:13 pm"or it could be a sign that tough combat is under way that will lead to the enemy’s defeat and the creation of a more peaceful environment in the future."
or not.
i'm going with "not".
May 5th, 2008 at 7:14 pmWe've been "winning" for so many years now, you'd think we would have won by now. Why anyone listens to people like Boot, et al, still amazes me. No amount of bullshit seems to discredit a war cheerleader. Ever.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:16 pmMax Boot needs to be "on the ground." A little real world experience would do him well.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:16 pmMax Jackboot was for death before he was for more death.
Neocons suck.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:18 pmThe surge will work at any cost, wounded and dead soldiers and civilians alike,the reich will do absolutley anything for this surge to succeed, In the meantime Iraq gets destroyed and America sinks into oblivion.phuck the shrub.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:19 pmI still believe that the plan is to break the military, or, at least, stretch it so thin that it will provide the excuse for more mercenaries, especially here at home. People like boot or romney's sons or w's next generation have no interest in putting their lives on the line for this fighting. It doesn't matter how many lives (including those US military families) are lost are broken. The neocons will "fight on" at their keyboards, risking their lives daily in this noble cause.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:21 pmMax Boot??? I suffered his weekly garbage in the LA Times op-ed pages for way to long. The Times decision to feature him was one of the reasons I cancelled my subscription after 35 years of getting the paper.
And here he is again! Gracing TPs post. Will I never escape from this idiot's ranting???
May 5th, 2008 at 7:21 pmStratRat Says:
What’s with the hair? I thought a kitten had become tangled up in his coif. Maybe it’s a combover?
It looks like zoysia plugs gone awry.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:26 pmBootlicker and that asswipe Yon are probably camped out at the recruiters office as we speak.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:27 pmGood thing Fran Townsend is now a contributor for CNN. She floated the Iran's harboring al Qaeda Management Councils some time back. Now Max has Shia fundamentalists training their sworn enemy, Sunni extremists. Consider it similar to the KKK working with the Black Panthers.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:03 pmASSHAT!!!!!
May 5th, 2008 at 8:16 pmThat is probably the most juvenile circular logic I have ever heard in my life.
How has this guy lived this long without being confined to a straight jacket in a rubber room?
May 5th, 2008 at 8:19 pmHe's nucking futz.
The surge is working because the amount of GI deaths are down...
What's that...?..Ohh, the vioence is increasing?
...in that case, the surge is working because more GIs are dying.
,,,EH?
May 5th, 2008 at 8:53 pmAarrgghh!! My brain hurts.
i still think the name Max Boot is hilarious. It goes to prove the old saying, the people will believe anyone aslong as their name is hilarious.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:37 pmI am so effing tired of bellicose neocon cowards with no military service or knowledge being given positions with organizations such as the Council on Foreign Relations Senior where they are allowed to pontificate as if they knew what the hell is going on.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:55 pmAre the people who follow this bozo called BootBots?
May 5th, 2008 at 11:58 pmDoes anyone still listen to what the Neo-Nitwits say anymore? They were wrong in 1996, they were wrong in 2000, they were really wrong in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and I sure the will continue to be wrong through 2100.
"We (the R's and C's) are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right." - George Orwell
May 6th, 2008 at 12:34 am.
Is Max Boot coming or going?
.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:47 amThis dude can't even get his talking points right.
We are arming the Badr Shia militia that is made up of exiles that lived in Iran for years. We are, however, confronting the Mahdi Army loyal to al Sadr. The problem with the blockade of Sadr City is that it is creating a humanitarian disaster. It is so heavy handed that even the Sunni's are complaining about this gruesome operation.
May 6th, 2008 at 2:42 am"there is copious evidence" that Boot is getting tangled in his own lies.
May 6th, 2008 at 3:05 amWe know why casualties have risen - it's because of a necessary increase in conflict in Basra and Baghdad meant to combat the Mehdi Army. This has had positive results; as we saw recently, the main Sunni political bloc in the Iraqi parliament decided to return to the government.
May 6th, 2008 at 3:36 am"The Surge"... is another empty word nowadays. Like democracy or patriotism.
It used to refer to the temporary troop increase after the disastrous hammering the US military and Iraqi civilians were taking, now it has morphed into a sort of catch-all phrase for any military activity in Iraq. No matter why the operations are conducted or if they are simply reactions to a false move to repair a previous mistake. A big reason for this is that "The Surge" has become permanent, but since the right cannot admit that they were wrong (again), "The Surge" is still going on.
That's why dimwits like Boot keep making these contradictory statements. They conveniently brush aside all the objections by moving the goal posts.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:24 amIf Boot and his like minded butts think this is the way to confront their fears of the world, I say it is time for them to pick up weapons and lead the fight. These are typical heroes who love to send other people to their deaths fighting for some unknown cause.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:29 amThis is known as creating a Double Bind. It's a great way to drive someone crazy!
May 6th, 2008 at 1:15 pm