Iraq likely to miss goals set by U.S. (or, the surge is NOT working)

[babylonsister]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-usiraq29may29,1,6381465.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage&ctrack=1&cset=true

Iraq likely to miss goals set by U.S.

Military officers doubt top objectives -- sharing of oil revenue, provincial elections and integration of Sunni Arabs -- will be achieved before a September report to Congress.
By Julian E. Barnes, Times Staff Writer
May 29, 2007

WASHINGTON — 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 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 local deals among Iraq's rival factions to establish areas of peace in some provincial cities.

more...

[KharmaTrain]

1. Wanna See This Story Change In The Next 24 Hours?

Or at least the spin.

The other day I heard some asshat call in and say how the Malaki regime was "duly elected"...and then I thought to myself...OK, when's the next election? Democracy's greatest test isn't in holding elections...almost every country has them...but how a transition of power is handled or power sharing. booooshie and his henchmen were in a big hurry to get an "elected" government, but since then what??? Shouldn't there be some type of mid-terms or other parlimentary election? Democracy? Yeah, right.

Hell, the goal for September has already been "met"...look at how well we've done in Al Anbar...recruiting all those happy Iraqis to fight "along side us"...so what if they were formerly allied with Al Queda. The "surge" is working.

The only benchmark that matters to this regime is the current price of oil and the price per gallon. For that "mission accomplished".

Cheers...

:hi:

[grytpype]

2. This is a must-read, which I've linked in LBN.

"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..."

That's it. That's all we are going to get from Bush's bloody summer of 2007. It's not worth one American life, but it's going to cost 300 or so, plus 3000 wounded.

Hopefully the Dems will pick up on this, and start saying if this is all we can accomplish, it's not worth the cost and we need to start winding down the war now.

[Jim__]

3. "...redefine success."

The surge can't fail. Come September, whatever has happened will be the definition of success. Anyone who then opposes the war after the success of the surge will once again be called a defeatist. Surely the democratic congress will then vote for continued funding. After all, if they don't vote for continued funding, the pukes will call them names.

[Solly Mack]

4. "...seeking ways to redefine success..."

Hello, moronic supporters of this bullshit. Doesn't that tell you something?

There is NO "winning". There never was....

Success is this...Oh - well, we can't do that so let's call success this...Oh wait, we can't do that either so let's call success this...Oh well, can't do that either...let's call success this now.....but wait....

and they'll keep "redefining success" and "redefining success" to beg for more time that prolongs the dying to avoid the truth...there IS NO FUCKING SUCCESS TO BE HAD

[KharmaTrain]

5. Too Much Of Those Negative Vibes...

The entire concept of "winning" is so twisted with the wingnuts even they can't define it the same way twice in the same sentence.

Now...supposedly, this "mission" was to remove Saddam and his nasty weapons. Doesn't this regime claim that Al Queda wasn't connected to Iraq that wasn't connected to 9/11 (coughbullshitcough)...so we hung Saddam, found out he had no weapons. Isn't that "Mission Accomplished". Try that on a wingnut and watch the sparks come flying out his ass.

It's gonna take another election to get the message across to the betlway elite. There is no "win" here...just a war for profit.