The Surge Is Working ... On You

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/9490


The Surge Is Working ... On You
by RJ Eskow | Aug 22 2007


We're being showered with stories about the Surge's success. In Al-Anbar Province, deaths are down. In the Democrats' America, waffling statements are up. Surely something is working somewhere. Is the Surge succeeding?

That depends on how you define its mission. Is the Surge supposed to create the physical safety needed to support political change and stabilization, so that the U.S. can withdraw and leave a viable Iraq? If so, it's failing. Or is the Surge's purpose to intimidate Democrats, mislead the press, provide talking points for the Right, and confuse everybody else? It's succeeding very well in that mission.

Unfortunately, people are sacrificing their lives to make it happen.

Let's review the picture on the ground. "We've begun to change tactics in Iraq," Hillary Clinton said, "and in some areas, particularly in Anbar province, it's working." Admirable people argue she was not saying that the Surge "is working," but I have to disagree. Although she doesn't mention the Surge by name, and a parsing of her words might exonerate her, she left the clear impression that the Anbar situation was a result of the Surge. And Rep. Jerry McNerney was clearly wavering on his commitment to troop withdrawal after his government-sponsored Iraq tour.

snip//

The result of this short-term improvement in the statistics is a worsening of the long-term reality on the ground. Iraq is a more dangerous place, less likely to achieve the results we claim to want, as a result of our recent actions there. Ware again:

"What the U.S. troops are doing is giving a set of numbers, a series of data, a number of lowered attack figures that may give the military the political cover it needs in Washington. But at the end of the day, by cutting these deals the seeds are being sown for a much broader, more entrenched civil war that America will leave behind."

Is the Surge working? It isn't creating a safer Iraq, that's clear. But it's beginning to work very well on Democrats and the media. Its ultimate target is the American people, and its ultimate goal is tolerance for an extended occupation. It may well succeed at that.

Capt. Patriquin wanted the Surge to succeed, but he'll never know how it turns out. He was killed by an IED last December.

The next time somebody tells you the Surge is succeeding, ask them: At what?

[BuyingThyme]

1. At what, Hillary?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Why couldn't Babs have gotten an inprovised

educational device for junior at a time when it might have made a difference.

[JCMach1]

3. There is no change in statistics! Deaths have typically dropped every late Summer

as even terrorists take a vacation from the heat... These folks will be getting active again shortly... Sorry, but it's an aberration of life in the desert.