State of Surge (Patrick Cockburn)

[laststeamtrain]

Bush's Pacification Plan Has Failed; It Will be a Long War

State of Surge

By PATRICK COCKBURN

It will be a long war. The rumble of artillery broken by the clatter of helicopters passing overhead resounded across Baghdad late last week as US forces fought insurgents in the sprawling district of Dohra. Twenty five miles south of the capital five a bomb killed five American soldiers and a furtehr three are missing.

The three-month-old US plan to regain control of Baghdad is slow to show results despite the arrival of four more US brigades. Security in the heart of the city may be a little better but the US and the Iraqi government are nowhere near dealing a knockout blow to the Sunn insurgency or the Shia militias.


<snip>

The Iranians may be a little confused by the mixed messages of belligerence and conciliation coming from different parts of the Washington. It is probably Mr Cheney's message, delivered in front of five F-18 Super Hornet aircraft, that will make the most impression. "I want you to know that the American people will not support a policy of defeat. We want to complete the mission, we want to get it done right, and then we want to return home with honour."

His words are a recipe for a long conflict. As soon as the US and Britain overthrew Saddam Hussein, the detested enemy of Iran, in 2003 Iranian influence in Iraq and power in the Gulf increased. When the Shia religious parties, sympathetic to the clerical regime in Tehran, won the parliamentary elections in Iraq in 2005 Iranian influence grew again. It has proved impossible for the US to reverse this trend which is of its own making.

<snip>

Peace, when it finally comes to Iraq, will inevitably be the result of a package deal of which a timetable for a US withdrawal is likely to be a central part. Despite Mr Cheney's claim that the US still seeks victory in Iraq-American failure--going by its original high ambitions--has long been inevitable. Iran and Syria are important players in Iraq that cannot be ignored. The popularly elected Shia-Kurdish government cannot be remade at Americans and British request because it does not go along with their wishes.

The Sunni insurgency is not going out of business or even showing signs of being seriously weakened. The economy is in ruins. President Bush's strategy, announced in January, of confronting Iran and seeking to pacify Baghdad by sending US troop reinforcements is not working.

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http://www.counterpunch.org/

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Purge the scourge! that should be the countries urge! Impeachment!

Corpoatocracy is their only Agenda ,and has been from day one ,let's get the Patriots and hostages home and put Dick in jail.