00000nam 2200000za 4500 9.807394 CaOODSP 20240219183355 cr ||||||||||| 150723s2014 oncd ob f000 0 eng d CaOODSP eng eng fre n-cn--- D68-2/105-2014E-PDF Minkov, Anton. The 2007 surge in Iraq [electronic resource] : an alternative view / Anton Minkov, Peter Tikuisis. [Ottawa] : Defence Research and Development Canada, 2014. vi, 28, [2] p. : fig., graphs, tables. Scientific report ; 2014-R105 November 2014. Includes bibliographical references (p. 23-24). The 2007 surge (increase in US troops) in Iraq is considered one of the most significant military events in recent history given that it coincided with a marked decrease in violent attacks. Among the number of studies that have assessed the efficacy of the surge, most recently it was suggested that the synergy between the surge and the standup of the Sunni militias “Sons of Iraq” was the key factor for the decline of violence. However, revisiting the data reveals that violence had generally peaked before the surge and that the standups lagged peak violence by several months. This study presents a critical examination of other factors that might explain the decline in violence. It is difficult to pinpoint the trends that were most prominent, but they all likely contributed to a shift in the momentum of the security situation in the fall of 2006, before the surge was even announced. Thus, our analysis suggests that the surge was an unnecessary gambit. gccst War gccst Strategies Defence R&D Canada. Scientific report (Defence R&D Canada) 2014-R105 (CaOODSP)9.802305 PDF 955 KB https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/rddc-drdc/D68-2-105-2014-eng.pdf DRDC-RDDC-2014-R105