LAT: Doubts any Iraq goals will be achieved by September...SO WAYS SOUGHT TO REDEFINE SUCCESS

[DeepModem Mom]

Progress in Iraq likely to miss target
Military officers doubt any of the three top goals will be achieved before the September assessment.
By Julian E. Barnes, Times Staff Writers
May 28, 2007

BAGHDAD -- U.S. military leaders in Iraq are increasingly convinced that most of the broad political goals President Bush laid out early this year in his announcement of a troop buildup will not be met this summer and are seeking ways to redefine success.

In September, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, is scheduled to present Congress with an assessment of progress in Iraq. Military officers in Baghdad and outside advisors working with Petraeus doubt that the three major goals set by U.S. officials for the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki will be achieved by then.

Enactment of a new law to share Iraq's oil revenue among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish regions is the only goal they think might possibly be achieved in time, and even that is considered a long shot. The two other key benchmarks are provincial elections and a deal to allow more Sunni Arabs into government jobs.

With overhauls by the central government stalled and with security in Baghdad still a distant goal, Petraeus' advisors hope to focus on smaller achievements that they see as signs of progress, including deals among Iraq's rival factions to establish areas of peace in some provincial cities.

"Some of it will be infrastructure that is being worked, some of it is local security for neighborhoods, some of it is markets reopening," said a senior military official in Baghdad who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing military tactics.

Military officers said they understood that any report that key goals had not been met would add to congressional Democrats' skepticism. But some counterinsurgency advisors to Petraeus have argued that it was never realistic to expect that Iraqis would reach agreement on some of their most divisive issues after just a few months of the American troop buildup....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usiraq29may29,0,5626129.story?coll=la-home-center

[Erika]

1. Yes, and the feds are cutting funds to our own vital programs

and infrastructure to the point that states are cutting back on the basic needs to the poor.

Message to W: We want our tax $ spent here and we want the end of your warmongering.

[badgerpup]

2. Look on it as 'a success that hasn't happened yet'.

Sorta like the capture of Bin Whatshisname...:sarcasm:

Even if they do have to redefine 'success'. :argh: :nuke:

[kenny blankenship]

3. I know--if there are any Iraqis left alive come September, let's call it a success!

that'll show those liberal knowitalls!

[DeepModem Mom]

4. a.m. kick