Just Say No Surge

The Washington Post reports today that BushCheney and the generals don't quite agree on surging troops into Iraq for a short term fix. The generals want to know what the mission will be and how it will be asked to deal with the consequences after the additional troops withdraw. BushCheney shrieks to hell with the future, we're dying out there now!

If I read this right, the folks who got us into this mess with their unrealisitic assumptions and complete lack of foresight are now asking the military and the country to up the ante with no more assurance that they (the folks who got us into this mess)understand how to stabilize the disaster that is Iraq. Seems to me that America would have to be pretty dumb to trust BushCheney, especially when the genersls (whom he says he listens to) are warning against sending additional troops. But fear and blind patriotism have often clouded our judgment.

The same article also mentions a report by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based crisis monitoring group that includes several former U.S. officials.

The new report calls the [ISG] recommendations "not nearly radical enough" and says that "its prescriptions are no match for its diagnosis." It continues: "What is needed today is a clean break both in the way the U.S. and other international actors deal with the Iraqi government, and in the way the U.S. deals with the region."

The Iraqi government and military should not be treated as "privileged allies" because they are not partners in efforts to stem the violence but rather parties to the conflict, it says. Trying to strengthen the fragile government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will not contribute to Iraq's stability, it adds. Iraq's escalating crisis cannot be resolved militarily, the report says, and can be solved only with a major political effort.

The International Crisis Group proposes three broad steps: First, it calls for creation of an international support group, including the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Iraq's six neighbors, to press Iraq's constituents to accept political compromise.

Second, it urges a conference of all Iraqi players, including militias and insurgent groups, with support from the international community, to forge a political compact on controversial issues such as federalism, distribution of oil revenue, an amnesty, the status of Baath Party members and a timetable for U.S. withdrawal. Finally, it suggests a new regional strategy that would include engagement with Syria and Iran and jump-starting the moribund Arab-Israeli peace process.

All of which makes a lot more sense than sending additional military forces to deal with what is a political problem. But then, sense has not been particularly characteristic of US policy in Iraq