tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post6033319136425105096..comments2024-03-26T12:23:29.784-04:00Comments on Philosoraptor: Winston Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08780746334199630779noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-32349959433865852652008-08-15T02:56:00.000-04:002008-08-15T02:56:00.000-04:00I don't think you're making any sense here, Rilkef...I don't think you're making any sense here, Rilkefan, but I'm not even sure who you're responding to...Winston Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08780746334199630779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-86370874261487756892008-07-28T02:03:00.000-04:002008-07-28T02:03:00.000-04:00Jeez, you don't gesture at data and argument showi...Jeez, you don't gesture at data and argument showing your basic premise is incoherent twaddle. And you don't then "advance the discussion" by asking trivial questions that avoid the issue. ("Nuking Iraq was a good idea." "No it wasn't - everybody's dead!" "Well, but A) Would violence have dropped near its current level without the "surge"*? and B) etc."<BR/><BR/>Strike that - you do. Oh rilkefanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01189347779617969628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-37431103985826971472008-07-23T13:44:00.000-04:002008-07-23T13:44:00.000-04:00Well, with all due respect, I know all this stuff,...Well, with all due respect, I know all this stuff, and I think I was pretty careful to gesture at it.<BR/><BR/>But here's a question (not intended to settle the question, but to advance the discussion):<BR/><BR/>(A) Would violence have dropped near its current level without the "surge"*?<BR/><BR/>And here's another:<BR/><BR/>(B) What if the answer is 'no'?<BR/><BR/>One has to wonder whether the Winston Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08780746334199630779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-33657186932286509042008-07-23T12:41:00.000-04:002008-07-23T12:41:00.000-04:00Or, as put better by a commenter at ObWi:"If you d...Or, as put better by a commenter at ObWi:<BR/><BR/>"If you define "the Surge" as "everything that reduced violence in Iraq," then the claim that "the Surge worked" is unexceptional, if trivial, for a limited definition of "worked" (one that, e.g., does not include political reconciliation). That appears to be the line that McCain is taking: everything that reduced violence, both before and after Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-37545978290694627032008-07-23T12:22:00.000-04:002008-07-23T12:22:00.000-04:00Winston,WRT to surge working, I think you need to ...Winston,<BR/><BR/>WRT to surge working, I think you need to define *working*. Because the surge put additional troops in Baghdad only, a city which had already been segregated and/or ethnically cleansed. And the most noticable decline in violence had already occurred elsewhere - in Anbar Province - where the Sunni Awakening had already taken place before the surge was even suggested.<BR/><BR/>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com