Math and Iraq

As our shrub prepares to tell us how well the glorious "surge" is making "progress", I noticed the numbers given by our own military:

Meanwhile, U.S. troops killed 11 suspected terrorists and detained four others in operations against al-Qaida in central and northern Iraq, the military said in a statement.

Ten thousand U.S. troops and 6,000 Iraqi soldiers are involved in air and ground assaults across Diyala and Salahuddin provinces, both north of Baghdad, in a nationwide offensive against Sunni insurgents with links to al-Qaida and Shiite militiamen.

More than 300 artillery rounds, rockets and bombs were dropped in the Diyala River valley late Monday and early Tuesday, and three suspected al-Qaida gunmen were killed and eight were taken prisoner, the military said. U.S. troops also discovered several roadside bombs rigged to explode.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12797242

Now, I tend to distrust the military's statements as likely to be propaganda. But let's take these and pretend they are accurate. 10,000 troops, 300 artillery rounds, rockets and bombs succeeding in killing 11 suspected terrorists. At this rate we should be able to rid Iraq of terrorists by about 2050 or so, and only using about 1,800,000 additional artillery shells, rockets, and bombs. So, by the numbers, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And a side note: This line is pure horseshit:

"Sunni insurgents with links to al-Qaida and Shiite militiamen."

Conflating al-Qaida, Sunni, and Shia militia as being linked is flat out wrong. They are fighting each other, not side by side.