The Surge is a Farce

If anyone criticizes the surge in Iraq -- as I have on occasion -- they are accused of not supporting the troops, of questioning the divine wisdom of David Petraeus, of being a weak-kneed defeatist. This is utterly ridiculous. Let's look at the facts:

The drop in violence has nothing to do with the addition of 30,000 U.S. troops. "The dramatic decline in bloodshed in Iraq... is largely due to Muqtada al-Sadr's August 2007 unilateral ceasefire," according to a new International Crisis Group report. Hence, John McCain has Muqtada, not David Petraeus, to thank for his newfound success at the polls. Sadr has promised another six-month ceasefire -- which would inconveniently end right before the U.S. election in November.

The so-called "Sunni Awakening" is also a sham. We are, in effect, arming and bribing Sunnis to kill al-Qaeda in Iraq forces, not us or the Shiites. "The strategy of the surge seems simple: to buy off every Iraqi in sight," writes Nir Rosen in Rolling Stone. In so doing, he adds, "the Americans are now arming both sides in the civil war."

The whole point of the surge was to provide the space for Iraq's leadership to make political progress and reconciliation. Again, that too has failed. The Iraqis have passed just four of the 18 benchmarks put forth by the Bush administration. Even a law calling for provincial elections this October was vetoed by the Presidency Council, a result of factional Shiite infighting.

Now there is talk of a "pause" in troop reductions, even though the point of the surge was to reduce the troop levels from 150,000 back down to about 130,000 by July and about 100,000 by the end of 2008. Not gonna happen. As Michael Kinsley writes in Slate, "The surge will have surged in and surged out, leaving us back where we started."

This blind support for the surge is really galling. Of course, the positive direction of things in Iraq in terms of casualty counts and suicide attacks is a welcome development -- but let's not kid ourselves why there has been this reduction in violence. Keeping more American soldiers in harm's way and arming willing factions in a civil war are not going to bring about political reconciliation in Iraq.

Comments

[Crowhaul]

The surge IS a farce... Why? Because it can never address the fact that we invaded a country without provocation.

Until we answer the much larger question of how we allowed our government to overthrow a sovereign nation without provocation, even discussing the surge as a thing of merit is meaningless.

[ApolloSpeaks]

Lionel: can you give us the resaon for al-Sadr's unilateral ceasefire? Do you even have a clue? Probably not, you can't take the truth: He was getting the living crap kicked out of him by U.S. forces. Al Sadr extended his ceasefire as a matter of prudence-its better than confronting Patreaus and getting crushed.

[Hollyse]

A logical mind should never serve the bipolar personality of Two Masters of one man. Logic of one is the illogic of the other self. Apollo..... it's all politics using lives as fodder no matter which side of the war games the "Gravy Train Elite" make their profits. $$$ pay off work and well for a PAUSE. Beehner, has this one right. Sobriety of the people heavily invested in making huge amounts of money will one day arrive when prisons are intentionally set up for these criminals. When the careworm, the gaunt, hollow-eyed toilworms say NO MORE to the few controlling the masses will be the beginning of logical reasoning for you my friend. My friend... a little bit of McCain snuck in. Americans need to leave after the first act of a terrible "War Performance" Too many writers, producers, directors and as cast of thousands of extras. No popcorn allowed in this theater! This sdhow hasd aslready been running too long.

[nyblue]

"Ain't gonna be no rematch..."-Apollo Creed

[maddogbitesback]

Apollo; I always wonder why people choose their "screen" names. Apollo was pretty evil during the Trojan war. Not good for the Greeks who had invaded Troy. So on to the matter of the surge. Al Sadr is waiting. He can wait a long long time. He did not have anything kicked out of him but the Americans ,with all their technology, sure aren't doing very well. On the up side, oil went to 102 dollars a barrel and biofuel is not good for the economy or the environment.

[lisakaz]

So when are all the Sunni, Shi'a and Kurds going to do a Kumbaya routine?

[Herrington]

Actually, Sadr has been given a larger role in the Iraqi government won both politcally and by force of terrorism. Now, with his puppet ministers seated, he has alternately supported and withdrawn support from the government on several occasions. He stood down his militia in 2007 and has focused on political machinations since. Whether his militia stand down was a result of increased U.S. troop concentrations in Iraq is a matter of conjecture. To that conjecture I would add that if "He was getting the living crap kicked out of him by U.S. forces" his political power would have diminished and not grown as it has. Now the calculation for Sadr is whether he gains or loses by more violence. The threat of it remains the basis of his power.

[Berettasskeeter]

Not only true, but there's more. The author implies that al-Sadr's quiescence is affecting the whole country. The fact is that al-Sadr has little influence outside of Baghdad, and little outside of Sadr City. The author is merely one of the Left's naysayers who haven't been paying attention.
Semper fi

[wsblake]

semper fi,
Typical moronic comments from a brainwashed marine. Vietnam should've been "won " too, right jackass?

[lisakaz]

So, why is a standstill called "progress"? Five years of nadda much and to you "victory" is around the corner? Praytell, just what is that?

[BUSHsurvivor]

So true! We are basically PAYING those that have harmed and killed our soldiers in order for them to fight against Al Q. But, what happens when the wallet goes empty?

[Neaguy]

But the Democrats bought into the frame of the surge argument. On that basis alone they are going to lose the debate and war is going to continue.

Dems, including Obama and Clinton, should have pointed out that we didn't have the right to do the surge. It is a criminal occupation of Iraq. We should just leave, pay reparations and try our war criminals.

Any other line of argument will be defeated by John McCain.

[OSUMercutio]

The surge DID provide political cover. Unfortunately, it was not the Iraqi gov't who capitalized upon this. Rather, George Bush and the Republicans have been able to push this issue on the back burner for the past year or so.

[PioneerKing]

Havent't we all heard this story before? Let's disrupt the political regim in so third world country under the guise of nation building/creating regional stability and they will come baring roses and all will be just as we want. Well once they stop fighting one another they will use the weapons we've sent over there on us.

[tbone99]

Um - when Bush and Petreaus mentioned surge I think they meant SURGE IN PROFITS for their armament investments and Haliburton stocks.That"s all that's been measured since the war went public.

[fantagor]

The surge was a success for the Republicans. It changed the dialogue from "stay or leave Iraq" to "is the surge working or not?" "Support the troops" became "support the surge". It facilitated Bush's use of a military man as a political shield. And it offered a convenient rejoinder for quantifying "success" in Iraq, "Violence is down therefore the surge worked!"

The surge is everything the Republicans hoped for and more. As for the Iraqis, the troops, and the American taxpayers, not so much.

Randy

[Themo]

I believe the Iraq war is definitely on the decline. Muqtadr al-Sadr's halt to all hostilities committed by his army was the beginning to end to the war. It was not the "surge". Put that together with the Sunni's decaring war against Al Quida and I come with a simple but probable fact that the real cause for the reduction in violence is due to war fatigue. No country or people can sustain rate of loss of lives as the Iraqis have for an extended time. Sooner than later everybody will come to the realization that this war has to come to an end for the sake of humanity. The sooner the better. It was stupid to start it and even more stupid to continue it. To put the burden on the Iraqis alone to come up with a solution is an abdication of the resonsiblility of the US administration in a most perverse cop-out.

[tbone99]

Muqtadr - al Sadr and others like him are not stupid - they're just biding time - they know we can't be there forever regardless of what McCain says, not at billions of dollars a year and a tanking economy.A guerrila war in an occupied country is not winnable - ulness you kill almost everyone, a la idigenous America- a strategy we do seem to be trying to duplicate.

[allwrite]

The proverbial nail struck squarely on the head. Let's ask Sen McCain, who firmly believes we can win this thing, to explain how we will know when we have won.

[dshwa]

Wrong about Al Sadr. His cease fire isn't war fatigue, he just wants his forces doing something besides shooting at US soldiers. He's trying to expand his power base in Basra and the SHia South. The cease fire started right about the time the Brits barricaded themselves in their one base outside of Basra, and various factions have been vying to fill the vacuum since. It hasn't been oppen warfare amongst the Shia but the more traditional politics: Kidnapping, assassination, etc. The Sunni aren't terying to kill us either, mostly since we started bribing them not to. But don't for a second start thinking it's going to be all sunshine and roses from now on.

[apduncan1]

Themo,

You are not a student of history: the Northvietnamese took as much punishment as the Iraqis are taking now and you know the rest of the story.

The US has never, NEVER, been victorious in colonial wars... from the start. The first American troops incursion was against Carthagena with Admiral Vernon (as in Mount Vernon Vernon) and Lawrence Washington (brother of the one in the dollar bill) and they lost.

Mexico is another story... they'll lose to anybody that attacks them. Mexico doesn't count.

The US did not make any inroads in China during the Opium Wars; ditto during the European expansionism in Africa.

Iraq will be another lost colonial war.

[Hartsfield]

I think a major problem in this war is the lack of transparency and the attempt to try and over-simplfy the situation in Iraq. I agree with the concept that the "surge" was a farce. I also think that there needs to be more ephasis placed on the nuaces that surround this issue. The information about the Anbar awakening and Al Sadr's cease-fire, needs to be place on the fore front and examined. Unlike generations before there is much more information available so the "We're killing extremist" is so over broad that I think alomost the entire point is lost. Great Article!

[savertime]

McCain/Bush use Al Qaeda to put fear in the hearts and minds of Americans.
It works even though this has been exposed but the people don't want to hear it.
Al Qaeda in Iraq is IRAQI. Sunni Militia that want to kill American troops occupying their country, having thrown them out of the government, out of power and out of jobs. They need to feed their families since the occupation has done nothing to bring normality to the Iraqi people. These people just want the troops out, they do not have any desire to "follow them home"

The NIE reports indicate there are very few foreign fighters in Iraq. There has been no full scale invasion of Iraq by foreign Al Qaeda members

The U.S. is paying the sunnis not to fight. In fact, they are paying the same tribal leaders that were/are fighting as "Al Qaeda" in Iraq. This is insane. To say the surge is working is insane. American troops dying in Iraq is insane. McCain is insane, senile and a fraud who still thinks he' s in Viet Nam. Four more years of fear-mongering is not acceptable. There is no "win" in Iraq without political reconcilliation. Does he have a plan to bring this about?. Enough is Enough, people. Bush can't even come to the podium without laughing at how gullible the people are. to continue buying into his bullshit. A trampled constitution, 4,000 dead, 40,000 maimed, billions each week and the neo-cons are no closer to getting control of the Iraq oil - their reason for invading a sovereign nation that did NOT attack the U.S.

[BuckarooBanzai]

The real point of the surge was to change the subject and divert attention from the horrible slaughter that was going on. Creating a new phase of the war called "The Surge" allowed the administration to decouple itself from the no-win current situation and create a new and better sounding frame for the war; "The surge is a sucess". The fact that nothing has really changed; people are dying and the various factions are getting more and more intransigent.

The real success of the surge is it allows Americans to convince themselves that we are winning and therefore are ultimately not responsible for the horror and destruction of this war.

The surge is nothing more than a prayer that we, the modern world's version of the Good German, use to convince ourselves that we are not as guilty as our heart's tell us we are.

[amorosotom]

Our government has legitimatized the tribes of Iraq. We have abandoned the attempt to establish a nation and instead decided to pay off the tribes. Is this progress in establishing a democracy?

[argeec]

Sunni Arab society has been organized as tribes for over 1000 years. They don't need the US to legitimize them.

[pakiman]

There is no Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The Sunnis are Al-Qaeda in Iraq. They are being paid not to kill Americans. They were getting destroyed by the Shia, so they found a good way to survive, get the strongest factor in Iraq on their side. The American's just want to reduce the level of negative news reports that come out of Iraq to say to the world that their mission was a success. Do we even need to count the ways in which this current situation is going to deteriorate?

[hip dibler]

name something that the us has done lately that ISNT a farce.