Thread: Study Of Satellite Imagery Casts Doubt On Surge's Success In Baghdad

Satellite image of night lights in Baghdad. By tracking the amount of light emitted by Baghdad neighborhoods at night, a team of UCLA geographers has uncovered fresh evidence that last year's U.S. troop surge in Iraq may not have been as effective at improving security as some U.S. officials have maintained. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - Los Angeles)ScienceDaily (Sep. 22, 2008) — By tracking the amount of light emitted by Baghdad neighborhoods at night, a team of UCLA geographers has uncovered fresh evidence that last year's U.S. troop surge in Iraq may not have been as effective at improving security as some U.S. officials have maintained.

Night light in neighborhoods populated primarily by embattled Sunni residents declined dramatically just before the February 2007 surge and never returned, suggesting that ethnic cleansing by rival Shiites may have been largely responsible for the decrease in violence for which the U.S. military has claimed credit, the team reports in a new study based on publicly available satellite imagery.
WAR INFO: Study Of Satellite Imagery Casts Doubt On Surge's Success In Baghdad

That is a lot of assuming. There can be many reasons for lights on and off. Maybe when things were dangerouse people turned their lights of and huddled in the dark. Maybe when it was so-so they put their lights on as a form of security. Like people do in bad neighborhoods here in the USA. Maybe things are so good in areas of Bagdad that they no longerneed the security lights. Who know. but one thing is for sure. The study is just speculation. Nothing more.

Originally Posted by justoneman

That is a lot of assuming. There can be many reasons for lights on and off. Maybe when things were dangerouse people turned their lights of and huddled in the dark. Maybe when it was so-so they put their lights on as a form of security. Like people do in bad neighborhoods here in the USA. Maybe things are so good in areas of Bagdad that they no longerneed the security lights. Who know. but one thing is for sure. The study is just speculation. Nothing more.

Maybe their lights were off because the power grid is unstable having been blown to hell multiple times. I wish the satellite could detect if the water was running, or treated.