February 19, 2008

Military Poll: Armed Forces -- And U.S. -- Highly Vulnerable

Is the military broken?

That is a question the Pentagon and Washington have been asking since late 2003, when then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld inadvertently signaled that the country was in for a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers themselves have been generally more positive about their mission than American civilians are. A new survey of military officers shows that while most maintain that the military is not broken, it cannot persevere under present conditions for long.

More than 3,400 active and retired officers -- 10 percent of whom served in Iraq, Afghanistan or both -- were surveyed by Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for a New American Security [PDF], a centrist think tank.

Just 42 percent of respondents described the military as broken, compared with 56 percent who disagreed. But 60 percent said the military was weaker. Just 25 percent said the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan had helped the military grow stronger.

The results are largely in line with other surveys of military officers, such as those conducted by the Military Times publishing group. But as warnings from the military about its own health have intensified over the years, the strain placed on active-duty troops has only grown. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the new 15/12 deployment schedule last April, and there are no indications that those rotations will be eased this year, even as troop levels are brought back down to pre-surge levels. If anything, the Pentagon appears to be hinting that they will not.

When asked whether the war in Iraq had stretched the military "dangerously thin," a whopping 88 percent of respondents said yes. More gravely, the officers said, the military is currently ill-prepared to respond to other major conflicts. More than 80 percent said it was unreasonable to expect the military to engage in another war today. And on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 meaning completely ready, the officers gave America's readiness to go to war with Iran a 4.5.

That may be because many see the current mission in Iraq as untenable: Nearly three-quarters said the goals set for the military by civilian leadership after the fall of Saddam Hussein were unreasonable.

Continue reading "Military Poll: Armed Forces -- And U.S. -- Highly Vulnerable"

Posted at 3:35 PM
Posted to: Afghanistan, Asia, Bush Administration, CIA, Congress, David Petraeus, Donald Rumsfeld, Iraq, Middle East, Military, Robert Gates
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January 31, 2008

Army Still Lags On Mental Health Help For Soldiers

The Army's suicide rate jumped 20 percent in 2007, an apparent indicator that the military's efforts to provide adequate mental health assistance to soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are still falling short.

According to internal reports, there were 89 confirmed suicides and 32 suspected suicides last year, which was also the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq so far. AP reports that about 34 of the suicides took place in Iraq.

The number of suicide attempts and self-inflicted injuries also spiked dramatically. About 2,100 soldiers tried to kill or injure themselves last year, compared with about 350 in 2002, the Washington Post reports.

Military health care specialists have openly admitted that they were unprepared for the length and scope of the war in Iraq. The nearly five-year-long war entered a crunch phase last year, when DOD ordered longer deployment schedules with shorter breaks in between. Some soldiers are on their fourth tours in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

Continue reading "Army Still Lags On Mental Health Help For Soldiers"

Posted at 6:43 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military, Robert Gates
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January 28, 2008

Troops Watch: No Answers Until Summer

When Gen. David Petraeus returns to Washington in March, he will brief Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the progress of the U.S. troop drawdown. He'll be asked how units are faring in Iraq as more of them leave, and whether the targeted reduction -- from about 160,000 to the pre-surge 130,000 by this summer -- should progress as planned.

What he won't be asked is whether troop levels can be brought down further.

On the one hand, that isn't surprising. The answer is clearly no, although the Pentagon hasn't publicly confirmed that. Violence against U.S. troops is back down to 2005 levels -- which isn't great, but it beats the carnage of 2006 and 2007.

The main U.S. objective moving forward is to help Iraq rebuild its military and security forces. In an interview with the New York Times published Jan. 15, Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qadir forecast that Iraq's military forces would not be able to fend off internal and external threats independently until at least 2018.

That lines up with many U.S. commanders' assessments that significant assistance from their own country will be required in Iraq for at least a decade. Right now, the presidential candidates are bickering over whether the surge is working. A better debating point would be whether the U.S. has a responsibility to help Iraq become a fully sovereign nation or whether Washington can live with the very real possibility that all the gains made last year could be undone if American politicians oppose commanders' recommendations.

Continue reading "Troops Watch: No Answers Until Summer"

Posted at 6:18 PM
Posted to: Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, David Petraeus, Democrats, Donald Rumsfeld, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Iraq, Middle East, Military, President Bush, Republicans, Robert Gates, WH 2008
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December 21, 2007

DOD: It Was A Pretty Good Year...

UPDATED

Thanks to the military's performance in Iraq, officials in the Department of Defense have genuine reason to clink glasses as the year winds down, though they know better than to go overboard in their celebrations.

In his year-end press briefing, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the drawdown of five brigade combat teams (BCTs) by July 2008 was going as planned and should allow for yet more troop reductions. The first of the BCTs returned from Iraq earlier this month.

"My hope is the circumstances on the ground will continue to improve in a way that, when Gen. [David] Petraeus and the Joint Chiefs and Central Command do their analysis in March, will allow a continuation of the drawdown at roughly the same pace as the first half of the year," Gates said in the Pentagon briefing room.

Continue reading "DOD: It Was A Pretty Good Year..."

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Posted to: Bush Administration, David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military, Robert Gates
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December 14, 2007

Is The Surge Working?

We said in our liveblog coverage of the final Democratic presidential candidates debate yesterday that the military component of the "surge" strategy in Iraq was working . An Iraq war vet who is now ex-military and a foreign-policy wonk in Germany weighs in (unedited):

Primacy of the Iraq war as an issue has slipped, but not because a tapering off of violence. It is still pretty constant, just down a little from the bloodiest season we've had since Nov 04 when the second Fallujiah was going on.

Continue reading "Is The Surge Working?"

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Posted to: Campaigns, David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military, WH 2008
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October 22, 2007

Bush Pressures Congress To OK $196B War Budget

Seeking to head off a fight that hasn't yet begun, President Bush warned Democratic lawmakers not to resist new emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as he tacked on $46 billion to the $150.5 billion the White House had already requested for the new fiscal year.

Recalling recent reports on progress in Iraq, Bush said that the extra funding was "crucial to maintaining this policy of success." General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker appeared on Capitol Hill in September to tell lawmakers that the "surge" strategy was making headway in Iraq, and that as a result troops could be safely drawn down back to pre-surge levels.

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Posted at 3:28 PM
Posted to: Afghanistan, Asia, Bush Administration, Congress, David Petraeus, House, Iraq, Middle East, Military, President Bush
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October 02, 2007

Blackwater CEO Confident -- And For Good Reason

In his testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Blackwater USA chief Erik Prince defended his employees as patriotic veterans tasked with protecting Americans in hostile zones.

"Blackwater personnel supporting our overseas missions are all military and law enforcement veterans, many of whom have recent military deployments," said Prince, who founded Blackwater and is himself a former Navy SEAL. "No individual ever protected by Blackwater has ever been killed or seriously injured. There is no better evidence of the skill and dedication of these men."

The Democrats on the panel cited various reports in their portrayal of Blackwater as a lawless army whose hired guns have killed innocent civilians without repercussions. Indeed, Blackwater, which has a contract with the State Department, is not beholden to either Iraqi law or U.S. military law. And that's because Congress either forgot or did not bother to make it so.

Continue reading "Blackwater CEO Confident -- And For Good Reason"

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Posted to: Afghanistan, Asia, Congress, Crime, David Petraeus, House, Iraq, Middle East, Military
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September 20, 2007

Bush Riffs On Iran, MoveOn And 'Missing' Rumsfeld

Proving yet again that his lame-duck status is the media's gain, President Bush treated the White House press corps to a freewheeling Q&A session this morning, in which the explainer in chief talked about the threat of war with Iran, that MoveOn ad, the GOP's record on race relations -- and even his feelings.

Before taking questions, though, the president scolded Democrats for failing to promptly renew a federal health insurance program for low-income children. "Unfortunately, instead of working with the administration to enact this funding increase to children's health care, Democrats have passed a bill they know will be vetoed."

Congressional negotiators are working to reconcile the House and Senate bills under threat of veto from Bush for provisions that raise the income ceiling for eligibility.

"One of the [Democratic] leaders said a veto would be a victory," Bush said, visibly irked. He was referring to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who said this week that a White House veto of final SCHIP legislation might be read as opposition to insuring poor children, which would be a "political victory" for Democrats.

Bush said that he has backed SCHIP since his days as governor of Texas, but that he opposed offering federally funded health care to children from families earning $80,000. The income ceiling is actually not that high in either the Senate or House bills, though some states are permitted to issue waivers to families earning around that much. Democrats want to roll back a policy introduced by the White House last summer that prohibits SCHIP coverage for households earning two and a half times the poverty level, or $51,625 for a family of four. They contend that private insurance is prohibitively expensive for some middle-income households.

The president also said he opposed all new taxes, including the cigarette tax hike that would help fund SCHIP. "There's no need to raise taxes. I believe this is a step toward federalization of health care," Bush said. "Their proposal is beyond the scope of the program."

Continue reading "Bush Riffs On Iran, MoveOn And 'Missing' Rumsfeld"

Posted at 11:23 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, David Petraeus, Donald Rumsfeld, Economy, Iran, Iraq, Middle East, Military, President Bush, Republicans, Taxes, WH 2008
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September 18, 2007

Petraeus & Crocker Take Report To U.K.

After a grueling week of testimony, interviews and close public scrutiny in their home country, the top U.S. military and diplomatic officials in Iraq flew to the United Kingdom to face an even tougher crowd.

Even though Britain's contribution in manpower and money to the war in Iraq has been far less than America's, resentment over the war and its costs arguably runs deeper across the pond. Tensions have grown worse since the departure of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, a staunch supporter of President Bush's foreign policies, and the pullout of nearly all British troops from Basra, their last stronghold in Iraq.

But in talks with new Prime Minister Gordon Brown today, U.S. Gen. David Petraeus had nothing but praise for the British armed services and their dedication to the fight in Iraq.

Continue reading "Petraeus & Crocker Take Report To U.K."

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Posted to: David Petraeus, Europe, Gordon Brown, Iraq, Military, U.K.
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September 17, 2007

Blackwater Incident Highlights U.S. Dependence On Contractors

One question immediately comes to mind following the Iraqi government's decision to give U.S. contractor Blackwater USA the boot: Can they do that?

Iraq's government is pretty much sovereign in name only, despite what anyone says, because of its existential dependency on the United States. The U.S. relies heavily on contractors like the North Carolina-based Blackwater, which provides security for American diplomats there, including Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

If the U.S. wants those services continued, the trick will be to dissuade the Iraqis from revoking Blackwater's contract without appearing to have bullied them into a reversal.

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Posted to: Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice, David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military
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September 14, 2007

Bush's Iraq: The Future Is Now

The closest most Americans get to a frontline view of the war are the accounts of journalists on the ground. Increasingly, reporters are having trouble keeping their anger and frustration over the state of affairs in Iraq below the surface.

Last night, CNN's Michael Ware could not contain his disbelief after President Bush's address to the nation on the war.

"My first impression is -- wow," Ware responded after host Anderson Cooper asked for reaction to the speech. "It's one thing to return to the status quo, to the situation we had nine months ago with 130,000 U.S. troops stuck here for the foreseeable future. It's another thing to perpetuate the myth" of a stabilized Iraq.

The Aussie native proceeded to swiftly rebut some claims the president made during his prime-time address. "Let me go down this list of what the president said. That 'if America were to be driven out of Iraq, extremists of all strains would be emboldened.' They are now. 'Al-Qaida could gain new recruits and new sanctuaries.' They have that now. 'Iran would benefit from the chaos and be encouraged in its efforts to gain nuclear weapons and dominate the region.' It is now. 'Iraq could face a humanitarian nightmare.' It does now. And that 'we would leave our children to face a far more dangerous world.' That's happening now. That's 'wow.'" (Here's the YouTube video.)

Ware, for you cable news haters, was Time magazine's Baghdad bureau chief before joining CNN in June 2006, smack-dab in the middle of the raging insurgency that nearly engulfed the entire country.

Continue reading "Bush's Iraq: The Future Is Now"

Posted at 6:19 PM
Posted to: David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military, Terrorism
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Bush: Aiming For 'Return On Success' In Iraq

As expected, President Bush faced the nation in a televised address last night and announced he was endorsing the recommendations of Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, for a gradual reduction of U.S. forces there during the first half of next year.

"The principle guiding my decisions on troop levels in Iraq is 'return on success.' The more successful we are, the more American troops can return home," Bush said. "And in all we do, I will ensure that our commanders on the ground have the troops and flexibility they need to defeat the enemy." The V-word ("victory") was notably missing from his speech.

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Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, David Petraeus, Iraq, Military, President Bush
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September 12, 2007

Not An Open-Ended Commitment. Just Really Bloody Long.

President Bush is expected to confirm tomorrow night that he will follow Gen. David Petraeus' and Ambassador Ryan Crocker's recommendations for the Iraq war. Get ready for a long, hard slog through this political season.

The dominant feeling on the Hill today is that after an agonizingly long five months of waiting for the Petraeus-Crocker report to arrive, nothing has changed with regard to a way out of Iraq. The "surge" strategy is working, lawmakers were told, but only in part. The missing link is national political reconciliation, and we still don't know how to get there. In summary: Give us more time.

Not good enough, appears to be the conclusion of most Democrats and even some Republicans. Their objection is twofold.

Continue reading "Not An Open-Ended Commitment. Just Really Bloody Long."

Posted at 7:53 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Constitution, David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military, President Bush
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A U.S. Mission Shift In Iraq?

In his testimony before House and Senate panels this week, Army Gen. David Petraeus urged a deliberative approach for shifting security responsibilities to the nascent Iraqi army, but it is not clear he will have the last word on timing.

Some top military and civilian officials are privately advocating that the Iraqis be given greater control over the primary U.S. mission in Iraq -- securing the population from insurgent and sectarian attacks -- on a faster timetable than Petraeus appears ready to embrace, reports Elaine M. Grossman of Global Security Newswire.

Grossman's article on a potential U.S. mission change in Iraq is available at NationalJournal.com for free. And in today's Poll Track (subscription), a new survey reveals Americans are resistant to a rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Photo: Liz Lynch

Posted at 12:58 PM
Posted to: David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military
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Bush To Back Drawdown Plan

AP reported late yesterday that President Bush planned to endorse Gen. David Petraeus' recommendation of a gradual withdrawal of up to 30,000 troops during the first half of next year. The plan would bring U.S. troop levels down to pre-surge levels by summer 2008.

Bush's enactment of the plan would be contingent upon events on the ground, specifically the continued success of the surge as reported by Petraeus in his testimony before Congress this week. The president plans to announce his intentions in a 15-minute televised address at 9 p.m. EDT Thursday. The White House will also present a written status report on the surge on Friday.

This morning, the Washington Post reports that Bush's support of Petraeus' recommendation is already drawing fire from congressional Democrats and some Republicans who are seeking a more rapid withdrawal from Iraq.

Posted at 8:01 AM
Posted to: Congress, David Petraeus, Iraq, Military, President Bush
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September 11, 2007

Liveblogging The Other Senate Iraq Report Hearing

[Senate Foreign Relations hearing] [Joint House hearing]

End note. March is the new September. Petraeus has made it crystal clear he's not discussing an ultimate drawdown until that month next year. Reid and Pelosi have promised a super-charged challenge to Bush, which he is expected to ignore or squash. For now, it doesn't look like we'll get the GOP insurrection Democrats have been praying for, and we'll know for sure soon enough. Check back tomorrow for reaction from the White House and Hill. Good night.

7:33. Crocker on the spending: "It's something we have to do, because we don't have enough people in the State Department, and they [private contractors] do it very well."

7:28. The former auditor says the amount of U.S. money spent in one month in Iraq could buy health insurance for 800,000 American children. Expect to see more of that stat this election cycle.

7:22. McCaskill also wants to send Tony Soprano to Baghdad. Crocker responds, "We can facilitate. We can pressure to some degree. Ultimately, national reconciliation has to be an Iraqi process." He continues with words that both hurt and help him: "This is a long, slow, hard grind, that could become easier" in the improved security environment.

7:19. Oh thank God. McCaskill's back.

7:17. Oh golly. Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill, who hasn't gotten to ask questions yet, and Chairman Levin are both away for a vote. The committee is going to wait for them, and in the meantime Warner is asking follow-up questions. This really is starting to get torturous.

7:07. A parachute for fence-sitters, courtesy of Crocker. Frustrated Republicans, including Tennessee's Bob Corker it seems, want to know why U.S. officials don't simply strong-arm Iraqi politicians, Tony Soprano-style. Crocker's testimony indicates he doesn't buy into this approach, which possibly hands certain Republicans looking for a credible way to break with the administration a means to do so.

Continue reading "Liveblogging The Other Senate Iraq Report Hearing"

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Posted to: Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, David Petraeus, Democrats, Donald Rumsfeld, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Iran, Iraq, John McCain, Middle East, Military, President Bush, Republicans, Senate, WH 2008
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Senate Lunch Chatter: Stances On Iraq Harden

On the anniversary of 9/11, the talk in the halls outside the Senate weekly caucus lunches centered on the future of the war in Iraq. Sandwiched between hearings before the Foreign Relations Committee and Armed Services Committee in which Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker asked for more time for U.S. forces in Iraq, the lunch chatter revealed a general hardening of positions on each side of the aisle.

Democrats stuck to their calls for a timeline for withdrawal, albeit one that could have a goal rather than a deadline for the drawdown of troops to a much lower level for limited purposes. Republicans said they were inclined to stick with Petraeus' plans. A few senators, such as Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, talked up possible bipartisan compromises, but Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said a road to a bipartisan agreement looked rocky.

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Posted to: David Petraeus, Iraq, Senate
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The Petraeus Report: How's It Playing In Baghdad?

In the coming days and weeks, Washington (and Iowa and New Hampshire) will no doubt be abuzz with reactions to the Iraq status report being delivered by Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on Capitol Hill this week. But American politicians and policy wonks aren't the only ones hanging on the officials' every word. Iraqis, too, are watching.

Following yesterday's testimony in the House, AP and Agence France Presse informally surveyed some Iraqis for their reactions.

The results ranged from the hopeful ("The government will improve when the Americans stays to monitor the political and military process in order for Iraq to reach peaceful shores") to the disappointed ("I don't think this will change anything in our country because the Americans will never leave Iraq") to the downright snarky ("If the Americans can't make their own microphones work, how can they may things work in Iraq?").

Reuters, meanwhile, reports on the reaction of Iraqi leaders in Baghdad, who expressed hope that "in the near future... our need will be diminished for the multinational forces to conduct direct combat operations."

Posted at 2:10 PM
Posted to: David Petraeus, Iraq, Military
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Liveblogging The Senate Iraq Report Hearing

[Senate Armed Services hearing] [Joint House hearing]

1:59. John McCain and Susan Collins are filing in for the Armed Services hearing. C-SPAN expects this round to last about as long. Good lord -- forget the sandwich Biden advised, get these gentlemen an IV. We're going to follow the Armed Services hearing in a new post, and will only report anything new-ish that happens there.

1:56. Biden wrapping up. He lays praise on them before concluding that without details on the final drawdown, there's nothing new here. Good bet many of his fellow panelists feel the same way.

1:53. Happily, he closes with a question nearly everyone in the military wants answered re the deployment schedule. In case anyone's forgotten, the rationale for staying in Iraq seems to have gotten gradually farther away from a national self-interest; meanwhile, American troops are serving repeat and longer tours with less time at home.

Continue reading "Liveblogging The Senate Iraq Report Hearing"

Posted at 2:00 PM
Posted to: Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Christopher Dodd, David Petraeus, Democrats, Iraq, Joseph Biden, Middle East, Military, President Bush, WH 2008
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September 10, 2007

Liveblogging The House Iraq Report Hearing

[Senate Foreign Relations hearing] [Senate Armed Services hearing]

6:45. It's over, it's really over. Tomorrow, on the sixth anniversary of 9/11, Petraeus and Crocker are due back on the Hill at 9:30 EDT to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Senate hearing will be shorter than today's (mercifully), and as we said earlier might be a little more uncomfortable for Crocker and Petraeus thanks to the presidential aspirations of Joseph Biden, Christopher Dodd and Barack Obama, who sit on the committee. We'll be following the proceedings. See you tomorrow.

6:42. Calif. Democrat Loretta Sanchez also accuses Petraeus of cherrypicking. Were they saving the hostile committee members for last?

Sanchez does get to a very good question, though: If life is improving in Iraq, why are Iraqis so miserable? She points to a new poll on Iraqis' attitudes, which shows most of them are miserable, frightened and deeply pessimistic about their future. Crocker, whose central thesis is that Iraqis are far too traumatized and so new to democracy that nation-building will be a protracted and messy affair, says he hasn't seen the poll, and doesn't have much of an answer beyond that.

6:31. The blame-the-Iraqis tack some U.S. pols have adopted in recent months has always seemed a little too convenient. Crocker appears to agree. Missouri Republican Todd Akin asks why Petraeus and Crocker haven't been harder on Iraqi politicians today, and Crocker's measured response is among the more credible arguments for keeping the surge going. "A tremendous amount has happened in a very short time," he says of improvements in some provinces. Crocker adds that in some of the newly stabilized regions, Iraqi leaders are working on restoring law and order. More important, they know that their funding comes from Baghdad, and are showing cooperation with the central government as a result, he says.

Continue reading "Liveblogging The House Iraq Report Hearing"

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Posted to: Al-Qaida, Bush Administration, Congress, David Petraeus, House, Iran, Iraq, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Middle East, Military, President Bush, Syria, Terrorism
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Petraeus Testimony Unlikely To Yield Surprises

An Iraq-focused week for Congress kicks off today with the first reports from Gen. David Petraeus. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker will also head to the Hill this week.

The long-awaited assessments come after the Bush administration asked legislators in May to wait through the summer to cast judgment on the effects of the troop surge. President Bush plans a public address at the end of the week to announce plans for the future in the wake of the reports.

Congressional Democrats have tried to blunt the impact of the current assessment. On FOX News Sunday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., reminded viewers that Petraeus is not "an independent evaluator" and is tied closely to the Bush administration. White House spokesman Tony Fratto hit back, accusing Democrats of letting liberal group MoveOn.org -- which is running an ad in the New York Times today on "General Betray Us" -- "write their talking points."

Continue reading "Petraeus Testimony Unlikely To Yield Surprises"

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Posted to: Congress, David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military
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September 07, 2007

Bush Says We're 'Kicking Ass' In Iraq. Discuss.

That the commander in chief and military leaders must keep an upbeat tone about a war in which thousands of Americans have died is understandable. But this particular commander in chief certainly has a way of sticking his foot in it.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, when asked by Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile how the president's recent trip to Iraq went, Bush responded, "We're kicking ass."

Bush, of course, is in Australia for the APEC summit, far from the eyes and ears of Beltway reporters gearing up for next week's Iraq report from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Whether the U.S. actually is "kicking ass" in Iraq is clearly debatable: Next week, Petraeus and Crocker are expected to validate Bush's "surge" strategy on the heels of two independent reports that find little payoff from efforts to transition Iraq into an independently functional democracy.

Continue reading "Bush Says We're 'Kicking Ass' In Iraq. Discuss."

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Posted to: Bush Administration, David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military, President Bush
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August 24, 2007

How To Force Bush To End The War

Here's some hopeful news for you anti-war protesters out there: By the middle of next year, it may be impossible to keep current operations going in Iraq.

Obviously, there really isn't anything hopeful or positive about this development. Officials inside and outside the Pentagon have been saying for at least a couple of years that the military was nearing its breaking point. According to Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace, everything goes poof in 2008 unless forces in Iraq are reduced by almost half, the Los Angeles Times reports.

There's good reason to suspect that so long as U.S. forces continue to make some gains on the ground, as is currently the case, President Bush will continue to say that the U.S. is winning and should keep at it until Iraq is a semblance of a self-sustaining nation. Probably the only thing that could compel Bush to order a withdrawal is being told that unless he and the rest of the Bush clan are willing to take up arms and fight the war themselves, keeping it going is a physical impossibility.

Continue reading "How To Force Bush To End The War"

Posted at 2:47 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military, Peter Pace, President Bush, Robert Gates
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August 22, 2007

Bush Backs Al-Maliki, Hints War Will Continue Past Petraeus Report

UPDATED.

In a speech before a room of supportive U.S. veterans, President Bush today issued a stinging rebuke to critics of political progress in Iraq.

"Maliki is a good man with a difficult job and I support him. It is not up to the leaders in Washington, D.C., to determine whether he will remain in his position. That is up to the Iraqi people who live in a democracy and not a dictatorship," the president said to thunderous applause.

Bush was referring to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has been accused of favoring the Shiite bloc in Parliament as well as turning a blind eye to the carnage Shiite militias like that run by Muqtada al-Sadr have been inflicting on Iraqi Sunnis. War critics and supporters alike have questioned al-Maliki's ability to govern, and recent news reports portrayed the president as backing away from the embattled Iraqi leader. But Bush seemed to put to bed speculation that he would accede to an attempt to have al-Maliki replaced.

Continue reading "Bush Backs Al-Maliki, Hints War Will Continue Past Petraeus Report"

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Posted to: Bush Administration, David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military, President Bush
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August 17, 2007

Iraq: Depends On Your Definition Of 'Progress'

In less than a month now, Gen. David Petraeus is scheduled to appear before Congress and deliver his much-anticipated progress report on Iraq. So far, there have been mixed signals coming from the experts and generals on the ground in the run-up to Petraeus' Sept. 15 deadline.

On one hand, a growing number of skeptics appear to be coming around to the troop surge implemented this year, citing several indications that the military buildup has helped lower casualties, thwart attacks and convince locals to join the fight against al-Qaida. Many generals, however, have approached these gains with cautious optimism, warning that the surge still needs more time and that September may be too soon to tell whether it's working or not.

Just this week, the deadly bombings in northern Iraq dealt a major blow to the security effort. And recent reports that U.S. troop deaths declined last month were coupled with other reports saying civilian casualties were on the rise.

Then there's the political situation, which is perhaps the biggest hurdle facing President Bush and his allies on the Hill.

Continue reading "Iraq: Depends On Your Definition Of 'Progress'"

Posted at 12:25 PM
Posted to: David Petraeus, Iraq
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August 15, 2007

Petraeus Envisions Some Withdrawals Within A Year

Gen. David Petraeus today confirmed reports that his highly awaited September assessment on progress in Iraq would likely include some plan for troop reductions, though he was not prepared to discuss specifics.

Anti-war groups have seized upon recent comments (subscription) by Petraeus to the effect that the counterinsurgency effort could take as many as 10 years, but today he expressed cautious optimism that at least a partial withdrawal was on the horizon. "We know that the surge has to come to an end," he told reporters in Baghdad. "There's no question about that. I think everyone understands that by about a year or so from now we've got to be a good bit smaller than we are right now."

Petraeus said the troop surge had yielded some encouraging signs of success, but conceded that "there's still a lot of hard work to be done against the different extremist elements that do threaten the new Iraq." He cited yesterday's wave of suicide bombings in northern Iraq as evidence of the long road ahead.

Foreign Policy Magazine's Passport blog has more on the general's comments.

Posted at 6:37 PM
Posted to: David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military
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August 08, 2007

The Surge May Be Working. But Is It Too Late?

UPDATED.

After four years of hearing that the U.S. had turned the corner and whittled down the enemy to a few "dead-enders" in Iraq, Americans may be in no mood to look at the situation there with fresh eyes. And who can blame them? Evidence that the war in Iraq is a hopeless disaster seems insurmountable: more than 3,600 U.S. troops killed and 26,000 wounded, an untold number of civilians [PDF] killed and wounded, more than 2 million Iraqis displaced, among other depressing statistics.

But recent assessments from critics of President Bush's war strategy see signs that the so-called surge is actually working.

Continue reading "The Surge May Be Working. But Is It Too Late?"

Posted at 11:57 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, Da