Andrew's Iraq Report: 2003-10-13

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from Iraq that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's Iraq Report and Winds of War coverage of the wider conflict are brought to you by Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com.

TOP TOPICS

• Suicide bombers continue to strike at soft targets in Baghdad, detonating two car bombs that killed six on a commercial street. The silver lining, such as it is, was that guards prevented the bombers from reaching a crowded hotel, indicating good security, but it's next to impossible to prevent the bombers from detonating their devices somewhere.

• JK: With everything that's going on in Iraq, it's natural to try and fit it all together. Dan Drezner suggests that it doesn't necessarily all go together: why it's hard to get a clear story out of Iraq and bad news vs. good news.

Other Topics Today Include: a U.S. reservist points out what real genocide means; Citizen Smash wraps up good news from Iraq; an Iraq 'slush fund;' Ralph Peters accuses George Bush of betraying the Kurds and the WMD search goes on; Which 'cards' do we have; How to support the troops.

IRAQ BRIEFING

• Can U.S. efforts in Iraq make a difference? SGT N.J. Todd, an Army Reservist who served in Bosnia, says yes, citing his experiences in a land where genocide and oppression are much more than political slogans. Hat tip: Opinion Journal.

• If the mainstream media won't report on good news from Iraq, Citizen Smash is on the case, with a fine roundup of good news you might not have seen elsewhere, including the release of the Iraqi generals that Chief Wiggles and Winds of Change.NET have been advocating.

• More good news from Iraq, as the Marsh Arabs habitat is returning despite Saddam Hussein's best efforts to destroy it. Moves like this are doubly good for U.S. strategy in Iraq, as they help the ecology while also increasing support for the removal of Hussein. Hat tip: Instapundit.

• Fred Kaplan questions the $87 billion supplemental package for Iraq and Afghanistan as a 'slush fund,' and Phil Carter agrees, but he points to Congress's responsibilities in this area, as well as some other issues that nobody seems to be raising about resources for Iraq.

• Austin Bay 'walks back the cat,' examining our prewar intelligence and assumptions on Iraq to see where we went right and where we failed. Here's hoping the CIA is spending a great deal of time on this as well. Hat tip: Instapundit.

• Ralph Peters accuses George Bush of selling out the Kurds to get some Turkish troops into Iraq. It's a damning accusation, if true, as letting the Kurds down (again) would go a long ways to negate the successes we've had in Iraq. (Hat Tip: M. Simon)

• JK: Searching for WMDs in Iraq hasn't located a smoking gun yet, but Charles Krauthammer points out the importance of what has been found to date, as well as how much searching yet remains for the inspectors.

• JK: what is it like to come home to a country you haven't seen in two decades? Read Yasmine Bahrani's account of her homecoming and find out.

• Representatives of the Iraqi Governing Council will be accepted as legitimate Iraqi representatives at the Islamic Conference in Malaysia, although the conference is expected to demand a removal of U.S. troops as soon as possible.

• Which "cards" have we captured so far? The CENTCOM list. And the visual version of "Ba'ath Poker."

• The troops are still there. So is the Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops. American, British and Australian. Anyone out there with more information, incl. the Poles and Czechs? [updated Aug. 19, 2003]