9 April 2008
Just what I expected from Petreaus and Crocker. After the “surge” troops go home in July, Petraeus wants a pause in troop withdrawal. Of course Bush stands by Petreaus and will follow his recommendations. The reason for the “surge” was to allow Iraqi Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds the time to reach political compromises. This has not happened. Now, how will our staying in Iraq be justified? It seems like no one in the Bush administration has a strategy for ending our involvement in a never ending conflict. The Times reported that repeated battlefield tours have Army leaders fearing for the mental health of our troops.
The so called progress from the “surge” is rapidly going down the tubes with more killing of Iraqi civilians, U.S. troops and rocket attacks on the Green Zone. What is not happening is the Iraqi military being able to fight on their own even with American and British backup in Basra, Parliament has not passed a law on sharing oil wealth or rules for provincial elections and much of the country is being controlled by ethnic militias swearing to kill as many of their own countrymen as possible.
In Sadr City in Baghdad, American and Iraqi troops are trying to control neighborhoods used by the militia to bombard the Green Zone. Baghdad was put under curfew again yesterday and yet we keep getting reports of the progress that we are making. I think that Maliki’s promise to rid the country of ethnically based militias is hogwash and a political move before the upcoming provincial elections.
McCain, Obama and Clinton plan to question Petraeus and Crocker so I’ll be able to throw in a few comments of my own in tomorrow’s blog. I’m growing tired of the glowing reports coming from Bush’s puppets. Considering what is happening on the ground in Iraq, how can the American public continue to swallow the claims being made? It seems that the short-term stability we saw in Iraq was not caused by the surge but by the voluntary cease-fire drawn up by Shiite factions. I really feel sorry for Petraeus because his task to produce security and stability in Iraq isn’t going to work as it’s going to take more than military might. It’s a political battle. We need to focus on Afghanistan with our military.
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