U.S. maps new course for troubled Iraq — again (guess what, why, how, how long & a bonus article)

[uppityperson]

(edited to fix typo and clarify "we" means the USA military via mrbush, not "we" you and me or with any of our support)

Guess why we are there now, what we will do, how it will be done, how long we will be there. For a reward, you get a special bonus article on Rising Violence. War is Peace.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003719668_iraqplan24.html

The Bush administration is preparing to change course in Iraq again, this time emphasizing political rather than military progress.

The administration's latest changes, which military and civilian officials in Baghdad and Washington are assembling and national-security adviser Stephen Hadley is coordinating, come less than five months after President Bush announced an effort to pacify Baghdad and adjoining Anbar province by adding more than 21,500 troops. That effort was built on the belief that political reconciliation in Baghdad could not happen until better security was established.

The military now would stress efforts to strengthen the Iraqi army and central government and weaken sectarian forces, said three U.S. officials with firsthand knowledge of the strategy.

The officials, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the evolving plan — which Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are preparing — didn't envision a significant drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq before 2008....(more @ link, thoughts from skeptics at end of article.)

BONUS (article from same link):

Rising violence

Three months into the U.S. buildup of troops in Iraq, violence appears to be increasing against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. Statistics compiled by McClatchy Newspapers suggest the violence, which had dropped in the first weeks after the U.S. began adding troops, is creeping up again.

Statistics on the numbers of car bombs, roadside bombs, people wounded and people killed show May is likely to be bloody. The number of bodies found on Baghdad's streets, victims of what U.S. officials call sectarian killings, is averaging 22.5 a day, up nearly 50 percent from April and March and equal to the rate in January, before the troop buildup began in February as part of the new security plan. U.S. officials say an increase in U.S. deaths was expected as the troops fanned out over the city.

Nearly every day, U.S. military officials tout successes in rooting out al-Qaida-affiliated forces. This week, U.S. troops uncovered at least two terrorist havens northeast of Karmah, about 30 miles west of Baghdad, that appeared to be torture chambers; 17 hostages were freed.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said that with the last brigade of the 30,000-troop buildup only now arriving, summer would prove a volatile and crucial period. "It's going to be harder before it gets better," he said.

McClatchy Newspapers

Now, why are we there? To make the world a safer place? To find WMDs? To remove a dictator? To bring Democracy? To...? Back to Politics!! Woohoo!!!

[EFerrari]

1. It's like a mental Haunted House, isn't it?

Yikes.

[shance]

2. The US isn't doing it, the Bush Administration is remapping their country.

This is very sad and very wrong.

No one will benefit in the long run.

Even those who are blindly profitting off of this venture of destruction and death.