Wednesday, August 1, 2007

This is success?

More than a few writers and pundits are saying what a resounding success the military surge in Iraq has been already, including this Wednesday Tracy Press commentary.

However, most of these fail to cite hard facts and statistics about the situtation, relying instead on the same type of anecdotal evidence that has been used to demonstrate success in Iraq for four years. I hope that the stories of improvement and achievement are true, even though it might not be enough to stave off the county's eventual collapse.

The political situation in Iraq is falling apart. Just today: "Baghdad shook with bombings and political upheaval Wednesday as the largest Sunni Arab bloc quit the government ... ."

Not positive news.

How much ineptitude on the part of the Iraqi government can we tolerate? How much money will be spent, and how many soldiers will be killed or injured before the United States decides enough is enough, regardless of how effective and skillful our military actions are? Or will we simply stay forever and essentially annex Iraq as part of the new U.S. empire?

1 comment:

Erdos56 said...

It's a horrific nightmare. The O'Hanlon/Pollack NY Times essay and Brookings numbers show some improvements in basic stability but I doubt the political mess can be resolved in a reasonable period of time (perhaps ever). Soft partition, anyone?