New Iraq Strategy Emerges: First Security, Then Politics

[spindrifter]

By MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: December 20, 2006

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 — The debate over whether to increase the American military presence in Baghdad is much more than a dispute over troop levels. It reflects a more fundamental dispute over the American mission.

In proposing to send tens of thousands of additional troops, proponents of reinforcing the American military effort argue that the violence in Iraq is increasing at such an alarming rate that Washington can no longer wait for the newly minted Iraqi security forces to take on the main burden of securing the Iraqi capital.

The United States, they assert, needs to expand its mission by making the protection of the Iraqi population its primary objective.

The calculation is that by sending additional troops and taking up positions in mixed Shiite and Sunni neighborhoods, the American military can finally break the escalating cycle of sectarian killings. Only after restoring some semblance of security, the proponents of a troop increase maintain, can the Bush administration reasonably expect Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to rein in the Shiite militias.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/20/world/middleeast/20assess.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[MadMaddie]

1. Hunh....now if Rummy would have taken that approach three

years ago after the fall of Saddam and all of the looting began....I wonder where we would be today? Just askin...

[ninkasi]

2. We've already tried that

We sent more troops to Baghdad not long ago, and the violence escalated. It is remotely possible that with the number of troops the generals originally asked for, we wouldn't be in such a mess today. I can't say, but I can say that Bush will brush off any suggestions which disagrees with his his own beliefs. Sending more troops will only make things worse, but if he's already made up his mind, nothing, including the will of the American people, will change it. That's why the twit needs to be impeached, too many lives depend on it.

[MadMaddie]

3. I agree with you..