The US military death toll for Iraq has now hit 4000 today after the death of a further four soldiers in the chaotic city of Baghdad.
All four soldiers were killed when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in south Baghdad late on Sunday; a US military statement said that another soldier was wounded by the blast.
Bush offered his condolences to the bereaved families saying "I offer our deepest sympathies to their families," vowing "to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain," on what he called a "day of reflection" honouring the US war dead.
The chaotic conflict is now in its sixth year, has killed 4,000 US soldiers and wounded more than 29,000, according to an AFP tally based on independent website www.icasualties.org. Which means it is the bloodiest conflict the US has faced since Vietnam. The US dead includes 102 servicewomen. Of all 4000 fatalities most were inflicted via Roadside bombs and gunfire was the second biggest killer. According to the website, November 2004 was the deadliest month for the American military in Iraq. It lost 137 troops that month when it launched a massive assault to take back the city of Fallujah from insurgents.
The Iraqi civilian death toll is even higher with the most conservative estimates put at 350,000 dead and some estimating one million or more deaths. This war has caused great bloodshed among the Iraqi people most of which caused by US attack, the sectarian strife caused by the power vacuum left after Saddam's regime capitulated and the feeble power of the Iraqi government in administering the ailing nation.
The icasualties.org website is based only on published reports and shows that around 8,000 members of the Iraqi security forces have also been killed since the March 2003 invasion.
At least 97 percent of the deaths occurred after Bush announced the end of "major combat" in Iraq on May 1, 2003 aboard a US aircraft carrier. Bush was definitely caught unawares by the insurgency, the sectarian carnage that brought Iraq on her knees and the high intensity fighting that ensued later. The US military has become caught between a raging anti-US insurgency and sectarian strife unleashed after Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime was overthrown. Now the US military is in a more advantageous position with troop numbers being bolstered by the "surge" and Sunni militia now joining the Iraqi security forces furthermore a cease fire with the Shia Mehdi army has reduced US fatalities substantially and so far this year only 96 US soldiers have perished as compared with last years mammoth 901 (again according to AFP).
For Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama the Iraq issue and the ever-increasing death toll is a major issue for the two contenders of the democrat nominee for the US presidential election. Both want to bring US troops home but with the emerging nightmare that is Iraq we might wait some time for stability and the ending of this bitter sectarian bloodshed.
"It is past time to end this war that should never have been waged by bringing our troops home, and finally pushing Iraq's leaders to take responsibility for their future," Obama said in a statement on Monday. Clinton also wanted to bring the troops home."I have looked those men and women in the eye. I have made that promise. And I intend to honour it by bringing a responsible end to this war, and bringing our troops home safely," she said.
The deadliest war for the US military, apart from the two world wars, has been Vietnam, with 58,000 soldiers killed between 1964 and 1973, an average of 26 a day. On average just over two US soldiers die in Iraq every day. While the Iraqis lose many many more with an average per day loss of 200 by the most conservative estimates over the 5 years and the higher estimates at 550 a day which is essentially a massacre of collosal proportions.
The icasualties.org statistics show that the deadliest year for the US military in Iraq was 2007 when 901 troops died after the so called "surge" which saw an extra 30,000 soldiers deployed in a bid to end the violence that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis, but has indirectly escalated the violence as the data shows.That figure compares with 486 deaths in 2003, the first year of the conflict, 849 in 2004, 846 in 2005 and 822 in 2006. This year so far has resulted in 96 deaths.
American commanders in Iraq acknowledge that putting extra troops on the ground has exposed them to more attacks, but they also claim it has helped curb violence and that attacks have dropped 60 percent since last June.
Over the past year attacks have fallen sharply in Anbar after local Sunni militia’s joined forces with the US military to fight Al-Qaeda.
Monday, March 24, 2008
The Schliefen plan
The Schlieffen plan
The Schlieffen plan was an elaborate made by Germany to defeat its regional rival, France if a war broke out. This plan was devised by Germany because there were already tensions between the two colonialist giants (France and Germany) and Germany felt threatened by France.
The plan was first laid down in December 1905 by Count Alfred Von Schliffen. The idea of the Schlieffen plan was to quickly outflank (surround) the French through Belgium with optimum surprise. A major aim of the plan was to take Paris, the capital where the French army communications nerve centre is situated and if this nerve centre is taken the French armed forces would be in disrepute. This is also where the bulk of the French population reside.
The main idea of the Schlieffen plan was to was to quickly overwhelm the weaker northern French army and then to take the port of Calais, a major supply route for the French and where parts of its navy are stationed; and go on to take Paris. The Belgium route of attack was the only viable route of attack that could deal France a knock out blow, as the French possessed many impregnable forts along the Franco-German border and could sustain severe loss of life on an attacking German army. Such an attack would also bog them down thereby losing surprise, which is paramount with the Schliffen plan. Also attacking from the Franco-German border would result in lack of manpower to fight the Russians later on when the Russians have mobilised their massive army. The German planners taken this into account and predicted the Russian cumbersome army would take 6 weeks to mobilise this provided ample time for the Schliffen plan to be orchestrated and France dealt a knock out blow. The Schliffen battle plan after taking Paris would cut the forts around the Franco-German border (in the Alsace/Lorraine region) of supplies. This would result in the forts being easily taken by attacking the weak rear, eradicating this threat. This would be made easier because of the fact that the soldiers in the forts are deprived of rations and ammunition and as the great general Napoleon said “an army marches on its stomach”.
Another principle of the Schliffen plan was to finish off France before the Russian army mobilised and attacked it from the east resulting in the reinforcement of the eastern front at a cost, weakening the strength of the western front. Germany could not sustain a war on two fronts this would just lead to inevitable defeat. The German top brass knew this and exercised the Schliffen plan in the 6 weeks they thought the Russian army would need to mobilise. These 6 weeks would be used to orchestrate the Schliffen plan take France and then re-deploy the rest of the German army to the Russian front. While the Schliffen plan was being executed of the 40 German army divisions (to those not used to military terms a division is between 10,000-20,000 men) 8 divisions were on the Russian front while 32 divisions were on the French front. So large forces were concentrated in one large-scale attack.
In this regard the Schliffen plan is reminiscent to the 6 day war of 1967 if you ask me because forces are highly concentrated for one major attack for example Israel deployed the bulk of their defence forces on the Egyptian front and launched a massive air attack in which 300 EAF (Egyptian air force) aircraft were destroyed on 5 June 1967 during the EAF early morning tea break (08:45 Egyptian time). This concentration of forces dealing a cataclysmic blow soon befell the other Arab nations involved. Back to the Schliffen plan.
When the plan was executed a German southern army was sent to attack the forts, this was a feint by the Germans trying to deceive the French to think the attack was coming from the Franco-German border. This was done to try and lure the French into deploying Reserves there and re-deploying troops from the north to the south so it will be easier for the main German thrust from the north. In the north there was high ground in the Belgium area so once captured it would give Germany an advantage. In northern France however there were fields, flat ground.
Below is a diagram showing the schliffen plan courtesy of school history.
One must remember that the French also had a plan up there sleeve called plan seventeen this involved attacking the Germans along the Franco-German border, where there are French forts. This involved an all out attack on Germany in the Alsace/Lorraine region with soldiers trained to fight “hard and fast”.
As we all read in the history books the Schlieffen plan did not work. It failed for a variety of reasons the resistance of Belgium, the presence of the BEF (as a result of the violation of the 1837 treaty between Britain and Belgium placing Britain as the protector of Belgium, the Kaiser saw this treaty as outdated and thought Britain would not get involved) and its effectiveness in slowing down the Schliffen plan at the battle of the Marne and the battle of la Mons; at La mons German soldiers thought British rifle fire was machine gun fire and also the BEF was called the “contemptible little army” by the Germans, the faster than predicted speed of Russian mobilisation, logistical shortcomings, the changing alliances of central powers Italy and Romania remained neutral, Moltke’s changes to the plan, the 1st German army was east of Paris instead of west of it during the battle of the Marne so the British expeditionary force and the French army were less spread out, and many other factors.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Was Roosevelts new deal successful?
This is a highly controversial question; whether or not the new deal was successful in ending the depression that had bought the USA on her knees. In this essay I will use evidence to show the validity of these claims.
In the 1930s the USA was in a dyer situation the country was stuck in a deep depression. The US economy’s prior prestige had been scuttled with the Wall Street crash of 1929. This capitalist economy held the rich in an advantageous position and the poor in a terrible position when this economy collapsed the poor did not bear the hardship it was the rich. Unemployment and various other effects of depression hit the US hard as a result. The main cause of this depression can be attributed to the Wall Street crash, tariffs on foreign goods, a massive poverty gap, overproduction and speculation and other factors. By 1932 when the abrupt recession of the US economy had levelled off Unemployment stood at over 25 million.
The objectives of Roosevelt’s new deal were alleviating the hardships caused by the great depression, bring unemployment down and to rehabilitate the US economy. Roosevelt also wanted to give women and black people more rights, positive discrimination was even introduced to do so. The new deal changed the model of southern society to some extent, now black farmers were sharecroppers. To mitigate the hardships that caused widespread unemployment and turned “rugged individualism” into “ragged individualism” he introduced alphabet agencies. These alphabet agencies provided jobs to the unemployed and aided the building of roads, power stations, infrastructure, the building of hospitals and schools. The alphabet agencies (so called because of their three letter abbreviations) were a benefit to the US the TVA for example built hydroelectric plants they bought electricity to Tennessee. The PWA built 70% of schools, 35% of hospitals and many warships including 2 aircraft carriers; this targeted skilled unemployment. In 1933, over 5 million were employed by these agencies this bought money to the people. Some jobs were even provided to women and blacks, which were disadvantaged. The idea of these alphabet agencies was to alleviate poverty, reduce unemployment and improve the economy. In 1933 unemployment stood at 20.6 million though four years later unemployment falls to 9.1 million. These unemployment figures show there was a drastic fall in unemployment during the first four years of the new deal (note these figures include those employed by the WPA). The depression had an impact on US politics now the democrats turned more left with regard to policy. More powers were given to the president, in Roosevelt’s inaugurals speech he said he was at war with depression and so he acquired war president powers. On March 9th 1933 he declared a national state of emergency which given him even more power, this state of emergency still exists today. This led to the government being wrongly labelled communist, totalitarians due to the government’s interventionist policies and a dictatorship. One of the pioneers of the pump priming idea Harry Hopkins said “hell they’ve got to eat just like other people” after being accused of boondoggling. This turn to the left manifested in the passing of the social security act in august 1935, which like the pump priming idea given more money to the people and actively financially supported the poor.
To regenerate the US economy the government spent money on these alphabet agencies in the hope more jobs would lead to more spending therefore an increase in demand for goods this will rejuvenate the secondary industry and more jobs will be available here. The democrats called this “pump priming”. The social security act also provided people with more money. The US wanted to provide the people with more money to spend, which would lead to a multiplier effect providing jobs in industry, banking and stabilising the nation. The new deal taken steps to help the US economy for example there were three times less business failures in 1934 than in 1932. After over 4000 banks failed in 1933, almost no banks failed in 1934. Production In the USA in 1937 was twice what it had been in 1932.
On the other hand the new deal was a misadventure, which rather than aid recovery wasted a lot of taxpayers money, farfetched as it sounds tax payers money was squandered paying the unemployed to scare birds and par take in drama. These alphabet agencies did not provide proper jobs instead they provided mainly menial jobs especially the WPA, which held the bulk of workers working for alphabet agencies. Alphabet agencies like the TVA and PWA was fruitful to the US and worth spending the money however most of the money was going to the WPA which employed the most out of all alphabet agencies and was a total and utter waste. The money pumped in was for no avail as most saved the money. It was World War 2 that bought women and blacks more rights as more jobs needed to be replaced, with men going to war. Women proven their use doing less menial jobs, women were encouraged to do these jobs by posters for example “Rosie the riveter”. Black men were taken into the army and replaced jobs left by service men. Roosevelt was totally unable to gain enough support to make any laws to protect black peoples employment rights. Nor was he able to end the Jim Crow laws, which segregated blacks and disallowed them from voting in the south; a basic civil right, which every citizen of any democratic state should have. His encouragement of positive descrimination was not adhered to either. Black farmers were now becoming sharecroppers because the white supremacists of the south saw them as a smaller threat because from 1915 onward bullied blacks migrated north. This is shown by the apparent reduction of lynching of blacks from 1915 onwards. The idea of these alphabet agencies was to alleviate poverty, reduce unemployment and improve the economy yet this was not caused by the alphabet agencies in 1933, 24.9 million were unemployed by 1938 it had fallen to 19 million this is merely the natural recovery of a nation after a recession not the affect of alphabet agencies. In 1939 unemployment stood at 17.2 million this then fell to 1.9 million in 1945 (these figures exclude those working for the WPA as these cant be taken seriously). This shows that World War 2 is what finally consumed the unemployment problem; this manifests itself that a year after the USA declares war all the alphabet agencies are closed because the unemployment problem has ceased. Had the unemployment problem ensued the alphabet agencies would of continued. The US industry and employment was already reincarnated with the advent of the lend lease act signed in March 1941. Had the US not joined World War 2 its unemployment worries would be finished by weapons production for warring Europe. The new deal did alleviate poverty to some extent with the social security act playing a part but nothing in comparison to the poverty World War 2 alleviated. During World War 2 and beyond the GDP of the US rose sharply. The authenticity and validity of unemployment figures including WPA workers are questionable and highly unreliable since some may have even been employed to scare birds. The depression did have an impact on US politics turning it more left, the US government did resort to more socialist policies but that gives no excuse to brand the government as communist. Roosevelt did abuse his 9th March emergency powers using it to bypass congress to pass laws; this directly contradicts his party’s name. Those saying he is dictatorial bear some weight as Hitler used a state of emergency under article 48 of the German constitution to make Germany a one party state. The social security act was successful bringing money effectively to the people.
There were three times less business failures in 1934 than in 1933 because after every recession, be it the 1937 recession or the credit crunch today there is always a recovery afterwards. In 1934 the banks were solvent and only established banks remained that had survived the depression and these banks were not going to fall. After 1932 the US was in recovery so businesses were less likely to fail. Those that argue 4000 banks failed in 1933 and almost none in 1934 should know there is a natural recovery after an economic slump. In addition these remaining banks are established. The fact that an economy naturally recovers after a recession thwarts all the data showing the new deal took steps and improved the economy. The production in 1937 (though it was a recession year) was twice that of 1932 was because the USA was recovering and the 1937 recession was small.
In conclusion the new deal clearly brought some changes for the better in the USA. The objectives of the new deal were to alleviate the hardships caused by the great depression, bring unemployment down and to rehabilitate the US economy. Roosevelt also wanted to give women and black people more rights. All of these objectives were not achieved by Roosevelt; on the contrary they were achieved by World War 2 and this for a man who hated war. The apparent deficiencies of the new deal were glaring Roosevelt in the face this was embodied in the 19 million unemployed in 1938, and that was 5 years after the new deal begun. The new deal was an act of desperation to end bitter years of depression that is unmistakably visible when one looks at the menial jobs offered such as scaring birds.
In the 1930s the USA was in a dyer situation the country was stuck in a deep depression. The US economy’s prior prestige had been scuttled with the Wall Street crash of 1929. This capitalist economy held the rich in an advantageous position and the poor in a terrible position when this economy collapsed the poor did not bear the hardship it was the rich. Unemployment and various other effects of depression hit the US hard as a result. The main cause of this depression can be attributed to the Wall Street crash, tariffs on foreign goods, a massive poverty gap, overproduction and speculation and other factors. By 1932 when the abrupt recession of the US economy had levelled off Unemployment stood at over 25 million.
The objectives of Roosevelt’s new deal were alleviating the hardships caused by the great depression, bring unemployment down and to rehabilitate the US economy. Roosevelt also wanted to give women and black people more rights, positive discrimination was even introduced to do so. The new deal changed the model of southern society to some extent, now black farmers were sharecroppers. To mitigate the hardships that caused widespread unemployment and turned “rugged individualism” into “ragged individualism” he introduced alphabet agencies. These alphabet agencies provided jobs to the unemployed and aided the building of roads, power stations, infrastructure, the building of hospitals and schools. The alphabet agencies (so called because of their three letter abbreviations) were a benefit to the US the TVA for example built hydroelectric plants they bought electricity to Tennessee. The PWA built 70% of schools, 35% of hospitals and many warships including 2 aircraft carriers; this targeted skilled unemployment. In 1933, over 5 million were employed by these agencies this bought money to the people. Some jobs were even provided to women and blacks, which were disadvantaged. The idea of these alphabet agencies was to alleviate poverty, reduce unemployment and improve the economy. In 1933 unemployment stood at 20.6 million though four years later unemployment falls to 9.1 million. These unemployment figures show there was a drastic fall in unemployment during the first four years of the new deal (note these figures include those employed by the WPA). The depression had an impact on US politics now the democrats turned more left with regard to policy. More powers were given to the president, in Roosevelt’s inaugurals speech he said he was at war with depression and so he acquired war president powers. On March 9th 1933 he declared a national state of emergency which given him even more power, this state of emergency still exists today. This led to the government being wrongly labelled communist, totalitarians due to the government’s interventionist policies and a dictatorship. One of the pioneers of the pump priming idea Harry Hopkins said “hell they’ve got to eat just like other people” after being accused of boondoggling. This turn to the left manifested in the passing of the social security act in august 1935, which like the pump priming idea given more money to the people and actively financially supported the poor.
To regenerate the US economy the government spent money on these alphabet agencies in the hope more jobs would lead to more spending therefore an increase in demand for goods this will rejuvenate the secondary industry and more jobs will be available here. The democrats called this “pump priming”. The social security act also provided people with more money. The US wanted to provide the people with more money to spend, which would lead to a multiplier effect providing jobs in industry, banking and stabilising the nation. The new deal taken steps to help the US economy for example there were three times less business failures in 1934 than in 1932. After over 4000 banks failed in 1933, almost no banks failed in 1934. Production In the USA in 1937 was twice what it had been in 1932.
On the other hand the new deal was a misadventure, which rather than aid recovery wasted a lot of taxpayers money, farfetched as it sounds tax payers money was squandered paying the unemployed to scare birds and par take in drama. These alphabet agencies did not provide proper jobs instead they provided mainly menial jobs especially the WPA, which held the bulk of workers working for alphabet agencies. Alphabet agencies like the TVA and PWA was fruitful to the US and worth spending the money however most of the money was going to the WPA which employed the most out of all alphabet agencies and was a total and utter waste. The money pumped in was for no avail as most saved the money. It was World War 2 that bought women and blacks more rights as more jobs needed to be replaced, with men going to war. Women proven their use doing less menial jobs, women were encouraged to do these jobs by posters for example “Rosie the riveter”. Black men were taken into the army and replaced jobs left by service men. Roosevelt was totally unable to gain enough support to make any laws to protect black peoples employment rights. Nor was he able to end the Jim Crow laws, which segregated blacks and disallowed them from voting in the south; a basic civil right, which every citizen of any democratic state should have. His encouragement of positive descrimination was not adhered to either. Black farmers were now becoming sharecroppers because the white supremacists of the south saw them as a smaller threat because from 1915 onward bullied blacks migrated north. This is shown by the apparent reduction of lynching of blacks from 1915 onwards. The idea of these alphabet agencies was to alleviate poverty, reduce unemployment and improve the economy yet this was not caused by the alphabet agencies in 1933, 24.9 million were unemployed by 1938 it had fallen to 19 million this is merely the natural recovery of a nation after a recession not the affect of alphabet agencies. In 1939 unemployment stood at 17.2 million this then fell to 1.9 million in 1945 (these figures exclude those working for the WPA as these cant be taken seriously). This shows that World War 2 is what finally consumed the unemployment problem; this manifests itself that a year after the USA declares war all the alphabet agencies are closed because the unemployment problem has ceased. Had the unemployment problem ensued the alphabet agencies would of continued. The US industry and employment was already reincarnated with the advent of the lend lease act signed in March 1941. Had the US not joined World War 2 its unemployment worries would be finished by weapons production for warring Europe. The new deal did alleviate poverty to some extent with the social security act playing a part but nothing in comparison to the poverty World War 2 alleviated. During World War 2 and beyond the GDP of the US rose sharply. The authenticity and validity of unemployment figures including WPA workers are questionable and highly unreliable since some may have even been employed to scare birds. The depression did have an impact on US politics turning it more left, the US government did resort to more socialist policies but that gives no excuse to brand the government as communist. Roosevelt did abuse his 9th March emergency powers using it to bypass congress to pass laws; this directly contradicts his party’s name. Those saying he is dictatorial bear some weight as Hitler used a state of emergency under article 48 of the German constitution to make Germany a one party state. The social security act was successful bringing money effectively to the people.
There were three times less business failures in 1934 than in 1933 because after every recession, be it the 1937 recession or the credit crunch today there is always a recovery afterwards. In 1934 the banks were solvent and only established banks remained that had survived the depression and these banks were not going to fall. After 1932 the US was in recovery so businesses were less likely to fail. Those that argue 4000 banks failed in 1933 and almost none in 1934 should know there is a natural recovery after an economic slump. In addition these remaining banks are established. The fact that an economy naturally recovers after a recession thwarts all the data showing the new deal took steps and improved the economy. The production in 1937 (though it was a recession year) was twice that of 1932 was because the USA was recovering and the 1937 recession was small.
In conclusion the new deal clearly brought some changes for the better in the USA. The objectives of the new deal were to alleviate the hardships caused by the great depression, bring unemployment down and to rehabilitate the US economy. Roosevelt also wanted to give women and black people more rights. All of these objectives were not achieved by Roosevelt; on the contrary they were achieved by World War 2 and this for a man who hated war. The apparent deficiencies of the new deal were glaring Roosevelt in the face this was embodied in the 19 million unemployed in 1938, and that was 5 years after the new deal begun. The new deal was an act of desperation to end bitter years of depression that is unmistakably visible when one looks at the menial jobs offered such as scaring birds.
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