"The Surge" My Ass 2

This is an attempt to annoy my Right Wing friends if I possibly can.

I realize how trivial this war stuff is when compared to the recent Edwards revelations, but what the hell!

It is very long, but then again, so is the war.

"The Surge" My Ass 2

It has been five and a half years since our once great nation launched a horrid war for horrid reasons against a horrid government in Iraq.

Our Government gloms on to words to describe its actions. When I hear John McCain use the "surge" word to describe our winning strategy in Iraq as well as his economic plans for our country, my smoldering hair bursts into flame.

But alas, I digress before I have even started.

After I Googled the war in Iraq, I decided to provide some highlights of how brilliantly we have waged this war for my Bush/Cheney friends, and to satisfy myself once again as to how truly screwed up our administration is and has been.

Our valiant President declared "Mission Accomplished" over FIVE years ago and when our military strategists finally succeeded in establishing something because of their sending in additional troop's years later only points out that their previous policies and management of their War was so inept. We reinforced our troops on the ground, and named it "the surge." Why in heavens name did these guys not send in enough troops Days, Weeks? Months or YEARS before they did?

Because I thrive on crummy analogies, it is like a major league pitcher giving up 25 runs in the first seven innings of a game, and then his manager crowing that he pitched shutout ball during the last two innings.

A JANUARY 22, 2008 Study finds hundreds of Bush administration lies. A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued 935 false statements in the two years following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Is it unfair to state that this war was "created" by this administration and then they badly managed it all these years?

I would like to see the media use far less of the political lingo like "the surge," or "flip flopper" and explain what it is that they are speaking about that is not clarified by their use of these "buzz words."

In the context of what Bush/Cheney are selling, the "surge" was a success, but not in my context.

Please consider CONTEXT when reading this stuff. It is "the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, or situation."

And now, the rest of the story.

A PARTIAL TIMELINE OF THE IRAQ WAR

MARCH 19, 2003: Bush launches invasion of Iraq

MAY 1, 2003: "Mission Accomplished My fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended."

MAY 29, 2003: Bush: We found the WMD we found the weapons of mass destruction.

JULY 14, 2003: Bush says he had good intelligence before the war I think the intelligence I get is darn good intelligence. And the speeches I have given were backed by good intelligence.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2003: Report shows Bush failed to plan a secret report for the Joint Chiefs of Staff lays the blame for setbacks in Iraq on a flawed and rushed war-planning process that 'limited the focus' for preparing for post-Saddam Hussein operations.

2004

JANUARY 22, 2004: CIA officers warn of civil war

AUGUST 27, 2004: Bush acknowledged for the first time that he made a "miscalculation of what the conditions would be" in postwar

SEPTEMBER 16, 2004: Intelligence report delivered to Bush warns of civil war. Bush's response: the CIA is "just guessing"

SEPTEMBER 16, 2004: U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan declares Iraq war illegal

SEPTEMBER 28, 2004: Another report showing Bush was warned about conditions in post-war Iraq

OCTOBER 5, 2004: Paul Bremer: Never had enough troops

OCTOBER 7, 2004: Duelfer Report: Iraq did not have WMD

NOVEMBER 2, 2004: Bush wins re-election

NOVEMBER 8, 2004: U.S. forces launch all-out assault on Fallujah

2005

JANUARY 12, 2005: WMD search in Iraq is declared over

JANUARY 30, 2005: U.S. loses track of nearly $9 billion in Iraqi funds

MAY 1, 2005: Downing Street Memo revealed Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.

MAY 30, 2005: Dick Cheney: Insurgency in its "last throes"

JUNE 23, 2005: Cheney revises "last throes" comment

JUNE 27, 2005: Rumsfeld: "Insurgencies tend to go on five, six, eight, 10, 12 years."

SEPTEMBER 9, 2005: Colin Powell, on his pre-war speech to the UN: It's a blot. I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and [it] will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now

NOVEMBER 15, 2005: U.S. Senate votes 79-19 to demand regular reports from the White House on progress towards a phased pullout of troops from Iraq

NOVEMBER 30, 2005: National Strategy for Victory In Iraq unveiled by White House

DECEMBER 17, 2005: Lieberman: Bush has turned corner on Iraq

2006

FEBRUARY 2, 2006: Rumsfeld doubts "long war" in Iraq

FEBRUARY 3, 2006: Bush requests additional $70 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, $120 billion total for 2006

APRIL 23, 2006: A former top CIA official, Tyler Drumheller, reveals evidence that Bush was told before the war by a high-level Iraqi informant that Iraq did not possess WMD

APRIL 30, 2006: Powell says Bush went to war without enough troops

MAY 18, 2006: CIA Director Michael Hayden: "I wasn't comfortable" with Bush administration approach to prewar intelligence

MAY 25, 2006: Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki says Iraqi troops will be ready to handle security by end of 2007

JUNE 20, 2006: Iraqi National Security Adviser writes that U.S. troops should be out of Iraq by the end of 2007

JULY 13, 2006: Rampant violence grips Baghdad, over 140 people killed

AUGUST 7, 2006: The top U.S. military official in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, says that civil war in Iraq is "certainly possible," calling it "the most significant threat right now" in the country.

AUGUST 19 2006: 1,249 days since the war began -- the war in Iraq surpasses the length of WWII.

AUGUST 21, 2006: Bush acknowledges Iraq had "nothing" to do with 9/11.

AUGUST 29, 2006: Rumsfeld calls war critics "quitters" who "blame America first" for giving "the enemy the false impression Americans cannot stomach a tough fight"

AUGUST 30, 2006: Rumsfeld compares Iraq war critics to those who believed Hitler could be "appeased"

SEPTEMBER 11, 2006: Cheney: war critics aid terrorists.

SEPTEMBER 24, 2006: President Bush describes Iraq violence as "just a comma" in history.

SEPTEMBER 24, 2006: New National Intelligence Estimate determines Iraq war has increased terror threat.

OCTOBER 4, 2006: Powell objects to "stay the course" strategy.

OCTOBER 4, 2006: Al Qaeda letter says prolonging the Iraq war "is in our interest."

OCTOBER 4, 2006: Iraq and Afghanistan war vets say military is overstretched, under equipped.

OCTOBER 11, 2006: 655,000: The number of Iraqis who have died since March 2003, according to a team of epidemiologists at Johns Hopkins University

OCTOBER 23, 2006: Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA): "We have to face the fact that Iraq is a civil war."

NOVEMBER 1, 2006: Classified military briefing reports Iraq "edging toward chaos."

NOVEMBER 8, 2006: Donald Rumsfeld resigns as Secretary of Defense

NOVEMBER 20, 2006: Iraqis demand U.S. troops withdraw.

NOVEMBER 29, 2006: Pentagon plans Iraq escalation.

NOVEMBER 30, 2006: Condoleezza Rice says Iraq is not in a civil war because "the Iraqis don't see it that way."

DECEMBER 5, 2006: Gates acknowledges U.S. is not winning the war in Iraq.

DECEMBER 19, 2006: The White House is "aggressively promoting" a plan to send "15,000 to 30,000 more troops" to Iraq "

DECEMBER 21, 2006: Lieberman: "I strongly believe that additional U.S. troops must be deployed to Baghdad

2007

JANUARY 2, 2007: Gen. George Casey warns against troop escalation in Iraq.

JANUARY 10, 2007: New troops in Iraq lack needed armor.

JANUARY 10, 2007: Bush announces escalation. "I've committed more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq."

JANUARY 11, 2007: Hagel on escalation:" The most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam."

JANUARY 30, 2007: The Army and Marine Corps "are short thousands of vehicles, armor kits and other equipment needed to supply" the extra 21,500 troops President Bush plans to send to Iraq

FEBRUARY 2, 2007: National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq declares Iraq is worse than a civil war

FEBRUARY 2, 2007: Bush requests another $100 billion for Iraq

FEBRUARY 6, 2007: Pace: Not enough equipment to support escalation.

FEBRUARY 18, 2007: A Washington Post investigation reveals that returning soldiers face deplorable conditions at Walter Reed's outpatient center

MARCH 2, 2007: Pentagon says 7,000 more troops will be sent to Iraq.

APRIL 1, 2007: McCain strolls through Baghdad market, accompanied by 100 soldiers, 3 blackhawks, 2 Apache gunships.

APRIL 25, 2007: Laura Bush: "No one suffers more than their President and I do."

MAY 1, 2007: Bush vetoes Congressional plan for withdrawal from Iraq

MAY 9, 2007: Majority Of Iraqi Parliament Calls For Timetable For U.S. Withdrawal

MAY 12, 2007: Billions in oil missing in Iraq.

MAY 30, 2007: Bush envisions Korea-like long-term presence in Iraq.

JUNE 4, 2007: Former U.S. Commander In Iraq: War Is Lost

JUNE 14, 2007: Despite surge, violence on the rise.

JULY 4, 2007: More than 180,000 civilians are now working in Iraq as U.S. contractors,

JULY 6, 2007: Iraq war costs could top $1.4 trillion.

JULY 12, 2007: Iraqi guards steal $282 million.

JULY 27, 2007: Baghdad residents receiving just one hour of electricity per day.

AUGUST 5, 2007: Iraq power grid "on the brink of collapse"

AUGUST 7, 2007: Number of troops in Iraq reaches highest level of war, with approximately 162,000 forces currently on the ground.

AUGUST 15, 2007: Officers see bleak future for Iraq,

SEPTEMBER 2, 2007: $50 billion still needed to stabilize Iraq's oil industry.

SEPTEMBER 4, 2007: GAO Report: Daily attacks against Iraqis 'have remained unchanged'

SEPTEMBER 5, 2007: Bush: 'We're kicking ass' in Iraq

SEPTEMBER 10, 2007: Poll: Nearly 70 percent of Iraqis say escalation 'has worsened' their lives.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2007: Petraeus: 'I don't know' if Iraq war makes America safer.

OCTOBER 8, 2007: Brown announces phased withdrawal from Iraq, says troop reductions have made Basra 'calmer'.

OCTOBER 18, 2007: Iraq to Cheney: 'Big fat no' on bases in Iraq.

OCTOBER 19, 2007: Head of Reconstruction Teams In Iraq Reports Little Progress Throughout Country.

OCTOBER 22, 2007: Violence in Iraq dropped by 70 percent since the end of June,

OCTOBER 31, 2007: In report to Congress, oversight officials say Iraqi rebuilding falls short of goals.

NOVEMBER 6, 2007: 2007 is deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq.

NOVEMBER 18, 2007: The number of weekly attacks in Iraq fell to the lowest level since just before the February 2006 bombing of the Shiite shrine in Samarra

NOVEMBER 23, 2007: 20,000 left out of Pentagon's wounded list.

DECEMBER 30, 2007: Iraq attacks fell 60% since June, Petraeus says.

DECEMBER 30, 2007: 899 American troops died in Iraq in 2007
2008
JANUARY 1, 2008: Iraq Body Count: Iraqi civilian violence in 2007 still at 2005 levels. Another 22,586-24,159 civilian deaths have been recorded in 2007 through Iraq Body Count's extensive monitoring of media and official reports. [Iraq Body Count,

JANUARY 15, 2008: The Iraqi defense minister said Monday that his nation would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012,

JANUARY 17, 2008: Army chief of staff says surge has "sucked flexibility." "The surge has sucked all of the flexibility out of the system," Army Chief of Staff George Casey said in an interview this week. "And we need to find a way of getting back into balance."

JANUARY 22, 2008: Study finds hundreds of Bush administration lies. A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued 935 false statements in the two years following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

FEBRUARY 11, 2008: Tony Snow reveals "80 Percent" of Bush advisors opposed the "surge."

FEBRUARY 21, 2008: Muqtada al- Sadr's militia enforces cease-fire with a deadly purge

FEBRUARY 22, 2008: Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr extends Mahdi Army cease-fire

FEBRUARY 24, 2008. A suicide bomber on Sunday attacked a crowd of Shiite pilgrims heading toward the city of Karbala to visit the Shrine of Imam Hussein, killing 63 people

FEBRUARY 26, 2008: A suicide bomber kills 14 people in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.]

FEBRUARY 27, 2008: Iraqi Council Rejects Elections Law

FEBRUARY 27, 2008: Iraq journalist union head dies after gun attack.

FEBRUARY 27, 2008: Nobel laureate estimates wars' cost at more than $3 trillion

FEBRUARY 28, 2008: Sunni Forces Losing Patience With U.S., increasingly frustrated with the American military and the Iraqi government over what they see as a lack of recognition of their growing political clout and insufficient U.S. support

MARCH 1, 2008: Iraq violence jumps in February. At least 633 civilians died, according to data from several ministries - up from more than 460 deaths in January. The increase was mainly due to two attacks in Baghdad and one near Karbala that killed at least 150 people

MARCH 7, 2008: Bombs Kill 54 and Wound 123 in Baghdad

MARCH 10, 2008: Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam and al Qaida.

MARCH 13, 2008: Archbishop kidnapped in Mosul is found dead.

MARCH 16, 2008: Senator John McCain arrived in Iraq on a trip that was billed as a visit by an official Congressional delegation but which also served to promote his foreign policy credentials as he campaigns for the White House

MARCH 16, 2008: Millions of people in Iraq are still deprived of clean water and medical care,

MARCH 17, 2008: Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday made a surprise visit to Baghdad, where he pledged that U.S. forces would "not quit before the job is done" and said that a massive troop buildup had achieved "phenomenal" improvements in security.

MARCH 17, 2008: Suicide Bomber Kills 42 People.

MARCH 24, 2008: A cease-fire critical to the improved security situation in Iraq appeared to unravel when a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr began shutting down neighborhoods in west Baghdad and issuing demands of the central government.

MARCH 26, 2008: Heavy fighting continued for a second day in two of Iraq's largest cities, as Iraqi ground forces and helicopters mounted a huge operation to break the grip of the Shiite militias controlling Basra, and Iraqi forces clashed with militias in Baghdad.

MARCH 27, 2008. President Bush, saying that "normalcy is returning back to Iraq," argued Thursday that last year's U.S. troop "surge" has improved Iraq's security to the point where political and economic progress are blossoming as well. As he spoke, Iraqi military forces backed by U.S. airpower were engaged in deadly battles in the southern city of Basra aimed at crushing Shiite militias.

MARCH 29, 2008. The American military conducted air strikes Thursday and Friday to back up stalled Iraqi forces in Basra and battle Shiite militias in Baghdad as continued violence and political infighting worsened the prospects for any timely reconciliation among Iraq's warring factions.

MARCH 31, 2008. Cleric Suspends Battle in Basra by Shiite Militia. Moktada al-Sadr on Sunday called for his followers to stop fighting in Basra and in turn demanded concessions from Iraq's government, after six days in which his Mahdi Army militia has held off an American-supported Iraqi assault on the southern port city

APRIL 8, 2008. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus returned to Congress seeking more time to consolidate security gains in Iraq by halting withdrawals of U.S. forces this summer, all but guaranteeing that about 140,000 troops will remain at least through the fall presidential election

APRIL 10, 2008. In a second day of Congressional testimony, Gen. David H. Petraeus left Democrats and some Republicans frustrated as he steadfastly declined to spell out what more would have to happen on the ground before he would endorse withdrawals to take the number of American troops far below the 140,000 set to remain there after July.

APRIL 10, 2008. Bush says U.S. strategy in Iraq is working but needs more time. President Bush said Thursday that Gen. David Petraeus will "have all the time he needs" to decide how and when to reduce American forces after the additional troops that were sent to Iraq last year are withdrawn by the end of July. A resolute, sometimes defiant Bush gave a status report on Iraq to members of veteran's organizations at the White House, saying that the American troop "surge" has been a success.

APRIL 11, 2008. Clashes in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City left 10 people dead Thursday, according to local representatives of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, but the level of violence in the area appeared to subside. The U.S. military said it fired two Hellfire missiles just before 10 a.m. after spotting fighters in Sadr City with at least five rockets.

APRIL 23, 2008. The Bush administration picked Gen. David Petraeus, its top commander in Iraq, on Wednesday to lead Central Command, the military command responsible for all Middle East operations and chose his former No. 2 to take over in Baghdad.

MAY 12, 2008. Fighting ebbed and residents emerged from their homes as a deal to halt fighting took effect Sunday in Sadr City, the Baghdad slum that has been the focus of ongoing clashes pitting U.S. and Iraqi forces against militiamen loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr. But after more than seven weeks of bloodshed, officials and residents alike were cautious about declaring the hostilities over.

MAY 14, 2008. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki took personal charge Wednesday of a military operation to rout al-Qaida in Iraq from Mosul, in northern Iraq, which the U.S. has described as the terror group's last major stronghold.

MAY 14, 2008. A teenaged girl blew herself up outside an Iraqi army post south of Baghdad, killing one soldier, the U.S. military said. A military spokeswoman said the girl was between 16 and 18 years old. Seven Iraqi soldiers were also wounded in the attack, the military said. There have been regular attacks by female suicide bombers in recent months in Iraq, but nearly all have taken place north of Baghdad, in regions where Sunni Islamist al Qaeda fighters have regrouped

JUNE 17, 2008. A car bomb explosion at a busy bus stop in northern Baghdad killed 51 people and left another 75 wounded. The explosion took place in the mainly Shia neighborhoods of Hurriya.

JUNE 22, 2008. The latest in a wave of female suicide bombers killed 15 people and wounded more than 40 others on Sunday near a heavily fortified courthouse and government outpost in central Baquba, Iraqi security officials said

JULY 9, 2008. Iraq's national security adviser said Tuesday that his government would not sign an agreement governing the future role of U.S. troops in Iraq unless it includes a timetable for their withdrawal.

JULY 15, 2008. Two suicide bombers killed 16 police recruits and wounded 30 others at a security post north of Baghdad on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

JULY 16, 2008. Iraq hopes to have security control of all its provinces by the year-end, national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said on Wednesday, underscoring the government's growing confidence in its own forces.

JULY 22, 2008. The U.S. troop "surge" in Iraq that President George W. Bush ordered last year has ended after the last of five additional combat brigades left the country, a U.S. military spokesman said on Tuesday. The remaining troops from that brigade departed over the weekend, leaving just under 147,000 American soldiers in Iraq, the spokesman said.

Enough already?

I can accept that for this moment in time that there apparently has been improvement on the ground in Iraq, however embracing the word "surge" and lifting It to biblical proportions does not work for me.

It is the context of needless death and destruction for well over five years of war and then pointing to something that you say has gone well and saying, "hey look, we did something right." Where in heavens name is the CONTEXT?

As a nearly final thought, as a semi media person, where does most of the information come from concerning the "run-up" to the war and its execution? We have a government that reports on itself and then goes ballistic when anyone writes an article or a book that tries to inform us as to "their" versions of the truth.

Our country needs a different sort of "surge" and that would be a surge to telling the inconvenient truths about what is going on in Wars, the economy, and a few minor Constitutional violations.

What would John McCain say to this type of surge?

Our Television stations are licensed to serve the country in the "public interest, convenience and necessity." Now isn't it reasonable for them to tell the American people about the events chronicled above? Coverage of "bull shit stuff" is just great along with meaningless sound bites, yet documentaries about the major issues such as this horrid horrid war is not? They could provide an unbiased context for events and DO NOT DO IT!

General Electric, The Walt Disney Company, Viacom/CBS, and News Corp please "come out, come out where ever you are."

It would be very funny if it wasn't SO SAD!

Norman Horowitz
With smoldering hair

Comments

[BadChristian]

Excellent timeline and great reminders.
Thank you.

[CitizenE]

Surge works:
Ethnically cleansed neighborhoods remain ethnically cleansed.
Sharia remains part of Iraqi constitution.
Iran remains the major political power in Persian Gulf region.
Sunni's protection racket keeps them in our pocket or us in theirs as they root out Al Qaeda that threatened their own hegemony in the first place and collect their weekly US taxpayer contribution.
Second round of elections in Iraq appears to be postponed indefinitely.
Hundreds of thousands living in exile or displaced in country do not return home.
Violence--suicide bombings and the like reduced to 2005 levels.
Iraqis tell us, as they have been for several years, "leave."

American infrastructure efforts costing American taxpayers billions and billions of dollars remain in shambles.
Iraqi's energy supply remains at preinvasion levels, while oil profits amount to $50 billion being salted away.
Cost of gas at the pump in the US, even with recent reductions almost 100 percent increase since the surge.
Cost of surge, war, the whole shebang kept off the books, so our grandchildren will have to pay for it.
Smiling Senate Maverick John Mc Cain seen on a YouTube with Letterman from run up to the war--declaring who knows, maybe the Iraqis were the source of the anthrax that was mailed to offices of public officials.

[GrainOSand]

Please do not blame the criminal planners and architects -- for snakes know only the hiss, the slither, and the venom, so illegal invasion and occupation of a country is a part of their nature to slither and hiss and to spread their deadly poison like the slimy creatures they are. This applies to the snake-like politicians as well as their copperhead, corrupt, and complicit counterparts in the news media and larger corporate America.

The game is greed and securing generational power, and snakes have been playing the game for a long time and have used buzzwords to dupe since time began.

No, do not blame snakes for acting like snakes, blame the victims of snakes who keep coming back to be bit over and over as if they enjoy poison coursing through mind and body to create paralysis and dementia. Such deserve any outcome of death that snakes bring, for they seem to find joy in being crushed by the squeeze of anaconda governance (Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush un and deux)

The clock is ticking on America and soon judgment will come. It will come by the deeds and actions of the people who comprise America and that will be just and fair reward or punishment. This is not the year of the snake, but the year of the rat, which historically, is always eaten by the snake. Is there no mongoose amongst us to strike a blow for the other side?

[dexxjones]

much as i hate to admit it- guiliani was right. if you let them spit on the sidewalk, next they will be snatching your pocketbook.

each time this complicit congress let these people get away with another crime against the taxpayers, they became more emboldened.

iraq, cronyim, mayor's dogs shot, tasers being deployed in schools.... this country is in serious trouble people. until the baddies face REAL consequences, the slide will continue.

if nixon had been drawn and quartered, his head placed under plastic in the national rotunda for visitors to gawk at- a warning to future baddies not to try it- we would not have a rove, cheney, or even a bush. we need to fire our employees and start over.

obama isnt the best start, but he is the only start. after a good number of these republican thugs are sent packing, its time to vanguish the bad democrats. i just hope its not too late to reverse the slide... thanks norman- great post.

[Gma11]

Excellent! I especially appreciate your emphasis on CONTEXT and the detailed timeline.

I've saved this one!

[laocoon]

The surge is the troop level Bush rejected until he lost congress in 2006.

[bogananda666]

It's the 3 STOOGES DEFENSE being used by the Bush gang. They're all in a circle pointing to those next to themselves saying "I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE THEY DID IT" THIS IS THE BEST the American public can do to govern our country elect those to whom THE 3 STOOGE'S are the reality. Now this is not meant to denigrate the Stooges, they were acting the part of being Stooges while our politicians are SERIOUS STOOGES.

[CyrusBeaucephus]

This needless war is as despicable as its supporters are unobservant

Only George Orwell could have imagined this, and yet it is still going on, and no one has been held to account (except of course for the war critics and skeptics who WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG)

I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how America got so stupid

[jfor]

Thank you for a great post that will be forwarded to all the deadenders in my life.

Until journalists, bloggers and the instutions that publish them decide that the truth is more important than ratings or peoples personal feelings we all will continue to watch our great nation continue to decline. The truth is provocative, the truth can be painful and the truth can divide families. Without the truth and acceptance of it twe are destined to be one more failed empire that was not able to learn from its mistakes.

[beanie]

As I have repeatedly said, the surge like the Iraq War was not a military solution; it was economic and political and orchestrated by the Bush/Cheney cabal. It is political because it was designed first to give the horrid Bush administration a reason to claim "victory". Second, it was designed to give the Republican Party some credibility for national security competence in the 2008 presidential campaign.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, the oil companies are now under contract, the mega-bases are built and the Fortress-America Embassy is nearly completed.
General Petraeus, himself, stated during his Senate hearings that there was no military solution to the Iraq conflict. It is a horrid legacy of this horrid administration. It is a horrid reminder of how little responsible reporting there has been in our country.