Same Old...Same Old

It is reported in today's NY Times, 3 months after the beginning of Bush's surge, fewer than 1/3 of the Baghdad neighborhoods have been cleared of insurgents by American or Iraqi government forces. The American assessment, completed at the end of May, reported that only 146 or Baghdad's 457 neighborhoods are under the physical control of the American or Iraqi forces.

The articles goes on to report that "In an interview, Brig. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, the deputy commander of the First Cavalry Division, which has responsibility for Baghdad, said '...while military planners had expected to make greater gains by now, that has not been possible in large part because Iraqi police and army units, which were expected to handle basic security tasks, like manning checkpoints and conducting patrols, have not provided all the forces promised, and in some cases have performed poorly....That is forcing American commanders to conduct operations to remove insurgents from some areas multiple times.' Around 30,000 Iraqi Army and national police forces and another 21,000 policemen have been deployed in Baghdad. 'Many of the Iraqi units have turned up at less than full strength and other units have been redeployed from the capital,' General Brooks said, 'leaving fewer than expected.'"

The local commander of the Iraqi national police, a force run by the Shiite-run Interior Ministry, has been replaced three times since March. Yogi Berra was right. It is deja vu all over again! How many times have we heard that our Iraqi allies fighting for the future of THEIR country are not stepping up to the plate? The Iraqi government, police and the army are not ready and will never be ready. We keep trying get them to hit at the Triple A level and they just can't hit a curveball.

The magic hour to evaluate the surge was supposedly set for some time in September. This recent assessment and announcements coming from the Defense Dept., White House and Iraq already are intimating that September is far too early "to truly evaluate the effectiveness of the surge." I cannot believe that any military strategist worth his or her salt thought that an additional 25 or 30 thousands troops would salvage this bloodfest.

More obfuscation, more deceit, more body bags. I believe the surge strategy was devised as a means to stall for time and to prolong the war. Bush and his minions want to dump this mess on whomever is elected in 2008.