Quotes of the Morning: A Recent Surge

"Despite the recent surge in violence in Iraq, Mr. Reid said he believed that civil war was ‘neither imminent nor inevitable.’ He said Iraqi security forces now numbered around 235,000, with 5,000 more volunteering to join every month."
-New York Times, March 13, 2006

‘Whew. Iraq is getting better all the time. This is just a recent ‘surge’ of violence. Nothing to be alarmed about.”
-Skippy

"The training at the desert village is especially important for the Marines of the First Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division. The battalion, made up mostly of Marine reservists, is leaving soon for Iraq, where sectarian tensions have brought a recent surge in violence - and growing concerns about civil war."
-Associated Press, March 6, 2006

“Hey, that was only a week before the first quote. A surge can last a week.”
-Skippy

"Dozens of bodies have been discovered in various parts of Baghdad gagged, bound and shot repeatedly in the past week, amid recent surge in violence, which analysts have repeatedly described as initial stages of an open-ended civil war between Iraq's ethnic groups."
-Associated Press, February 4, 2006

“Even a month isn’t too long to still call it a ‘recent surge’.”
-Skippy

"The recent surge in violence is "an anomaly" and Iraq is not on the verge of civil war, the top US commander there said yesterday, after one of the country's bloodiest days since the fall of Saddam Hussein."
-Sidney Morning Herald, January 8, 2006

“Ok.. Two months seems to be stretching it a little..:
-Skippy

"The fresh US effort to crack down on insurgents followed a recent surge in violence caused by the passing of the new Iraqi constitution in a referendum held earlier this month."
-Washington Times, October 31, 2005

"Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, has reportedly said the recent surge in violence is in retaliation for a coalition offensive against the group's stronghold in the northern city of Tal Afar."
-Associated Press, September 17, 2005

"Mr. President, we were told that you planned to sharpen your focus on Iraq. Why did this become necessary? And given the recent surge in violence, do you agree with Vice President Dick Cheney's assessment that the insurgency is in its last throes?"
-Question to George ‘Dubya’ Bush, June 20, 2005

"Even despite the recent surge in violence, in some areas - downtown Mosul, for example - Iraqi forces have begun limited independent operations."
-Salon, May 23, 2005

"A senior US military official told reporters Wednesday that the recent surge in violence in Iraq followed a meeting in Syria last month of associates of the Jordanian insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi."
-Washington Post, May 19, 2005

"Most of the victims were Shiites, the targets of a recent surge in violence, most notably a series of suicide bombings and other attacks that killed nearly 100 people during the Shiite religious commemoration known as Ashoura."
-ABC News, March 2, 2005

“Ok.. So the ‘recent surge’ is at least a year old.. That’s pretty bad.”
-Skippy

"The incident marks the most senior assassination since the death in May of Governing Council president Abd al-Zahra Uthman Muhammad and should be seen within the context of the recent surge in violence ahead of national and provincial elections slated for 30 January."
-Radio Free Europe, January 4, 2005

"The Iraqi leader also said that despite a recent surge in violence in Iraq, it is 'very important for the people of the world really to know that we are winning, we are making progress in Iraq, we are defeating terrorists.'"
-Washington Times, September 22, 2004

"Despite a recent surge in violence, including kidnappings, car bombings and assassinations, senior US and Iraqi officials gave a relatively optimistic assessment on Wednesday of the security situation in Iraq since the transfer of political authority from US to Iraqi authorities June 28."
-Washington Post, July 22, 2004

"Lt. Gen. David Barno, the top American commander in Afghanistan, said Monday that the military has seen a recent surge in violence, but that most attacks were directed against soft targets, such as civilians or isolated Afghan security outposts."
-CBS News, April 26, 2004

"A wave of bomb attacks in Baghdad and Karbala killing at least 171 people earlier this week has highlighted the difficulties in rebuilding the country and restoring peace. But Mr. Blair, speaking after a meeting in Rome with his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi, said the recent surge in violence in Iraq did not constitute civil war."
-Reuters, March 4, 2004

“Um, I mean two years old. How long has this war been going on anyway? I thought it was only three years old.”
-Skippy

"Ansar is believed to be channeling into Iraq the foreign fighters who are behind a recent surge in violence in the country, officials say."
-UK Telegraph, October 31, 2003

"Meanwhile, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac were to meet in Germany on Thursday to discuss ways for the West to respond to the recent surge in violence in Iraq and the Middle East."
-Middle East Online, September 3, 2006

“So the ‘recent surge’ in violence has only lasted about 80% of the time since the war began. That doesn’t seem like a ‘surge’ as much as it does a steady, relentless pounding.. In other words, this isn’t a surge of violence, this is the entire tide of violence coming in. Surge just doesn’t seem to cover something that has lasted for 2 ½ years.”
-Skippy

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
-Inigo Montoya

“Thanks to Truthout and Joe Kuspan for today’s Quotes.”
-Skippy