The latest meme that is being pushed by the right wing and the mainstream media is that the surge is working, and they point to Al-Anbar as their success story.
Well, here's al-Anbar.
Maybe someone can point out the progress part of that. I couldn't find it.
So, Bush and his minions and Ari Fleischer's Freedom Watch can continue to misinform the public with fantasies about manufactured successes in Iraq and video of 9-11 (which, of course, had nothing to do with Iraq), and push their 'progress' bull in advance of the Petraeus report, due out on hmmm... Sept 11, but we're not buying it.
The purpose of the 'surge' was to give the Iraqi politicians some breathing room to work out their political differences. Currently, they're on vacation, and my guess is that their breathing room is not set at 115 degrees like it is for our troops and the Iraqi people.
What is happening in Iraq is a dialogue of the deaf. Maliki's Shi'ite-led coalition refuses to listen to the Sunnis - despite the cosmetic talk coming out to the media - and the Sunnis refuse to collaborate with the new administration, unless their conditions are met, their power base is enhanced, and their political rights are guaranteed.
Well, how's that working for Mr Maliki, who has lost 17 members of his 37 member cabinet?
He has been abandoned by Sadrists, Sunnis, and supporters of the former Iraqi prime minister, the secular Iyad Allawi. Maliki is in desperate need of allies to prevent his cabinet from collapse. The alliance's support of towering figures such as Talabani, Barzani and Abdul-Mehdi is believed to cover up the walkout of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the Fadila Party, the Iraqi National List of Allawi, and the Sadrists.The truth remains, however, that the new alliance does not represent all Iraqis. It does not have any Sunnis within it, nor does it have any independent Shi'ites who are not pro-Iran. The Shi'ites represented are all from the middle-class, affluent sectors of society. The alliance has no Sadrists, who represent the poor and the youth of Iraqi slums.
Um, not too hot.
So, what's the 'success' part of the surge?
More Iraqis Are Said to Flee Since Troop Increase
After four and a half years of fighting, a half a trillion dollars in American taxpayer money, 3724 American deaths, and 27,506 wounded, countless dead Iraqi citizens and a mass exodus from their homes, we're currently left with an ineffective Iraq government and still no end in sight.
If Mr. Bush is going to claim progress, I'd like to know what it is, because none of this looks like progress to me.
