Tuesday, April 10, 2007
"Let The Surge Work"
That's been the mantra of all the administration apologists. Mike at Crest wonders if the meme is taking hold with the American people.
I have a feeling that while the Repubs have certainly repeated "Let the surge work" enough times to get it into people's heads, events on the ground seem to be overtaking their p.r. campaign.
U.S. casualties are spiking at the same time that violence is spreading outward from Baghdad. Violence is not decreasing in Iraq. Iraqi casualties are not decreasing either. Take a look at today's events from Iraq as an example:
So the only thing increasing in Iraq as far as I can tell is the U.S. military casualty rate. How long will an American public already overwhelmingly opposed to the war stand for a policy of engagement where U.S. casualties increase without any improvements being seen on the ground?
McCain and Lieberman and the other war jokers can try and spin events all they like - the surge is not working so far and unless conditions turn around very quickly (say by mid-summer), the administration and its apologists are going to find themselves in the unenviable position of having to continue to argue "Let the surge work" as it becomes plain to even the dumbest among us that it has not worked and cannot work.
I have a feeling that while the Repubs have certainly repeated "Let the surge work" enough times to get it into people's heads, events on the ground seem to be overtaking their p.r. campaign.
U.S. casualties are spiking at the same time that violence is spreading outward from Baghdad. Violence is not decreasing in Iraq. Iraqi casualties are not decreasing either. Take a look at today's events from Iraq as an example:
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces backed by attack helicopters fought gunmen in Baghdad on Tuesday, witnesses said, in what appeared to be the heaviest battle in the capital since a security crackdown was launched in February.
Northeast of Baghdad, a woman suicide bomber strapped with explosives under an Islamic gown killed 17 recruits outside a police station in the town of Muqdadiya, police officials said.
...
Four U.S. soldiers were killed on Monday, putting April on course to be the deadliest for troops this year as more American and Iraqi forces deploy under the Baghdad security plan.
The latest deaths bring to about 45 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq this month, half of them in the Baghdad area. Between 80 and 85 soldiers were killed in each of the first three months of the year, according to military figures.
President George W. Bush is sending 30,000 additional American soldiers to Iraq.
A key element of Operation Imposing Law is getting more U.S. troops on the streets and assigned to dozens of joint security stations with Iraqi forces across the capital.
Three of the U.S. soldiers were killed and another was wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in Baghdad on Monday. Another was killed in volatile western Anbar province, heart of the Sunni Arab insurgency.
The U.S. military acknowledges the Baghdad security plan has increased the likelihood of more troop deaths.
``With more troops on the streets, there is more chance of casualties,'' said Lieutenant-Colonel Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces in Iraq.
So the only thing increasing in Iraq as far as I can tell is the U.S. military casualty rate. How long will an American public already overwhelmingly opposed to the war stand for a policy of engagement where U.S. casualties increase without any improvements being seen on the ground?
McCain and Lieberman and the other war jokers can try and spin events all they like - the surge is not working so far and unless conditions turn around very quickly (say by mid-summer), the administration and its apologists are going to find themselves in the unenviable position of having to continue to argue "Let the surge work" as it becomes plain to even the dumbest among us that it has not worked and cannot work.
