While the main stream media in the US are pretending that the fact that the insurgents in Baghdad are laying low is some sign that the surge is working, reality suggests otherwise.
What is more devastating now is that the world’s only superpower is in danger of being driven back by a few tens of thousands of lightly armed irregulars, who have developed tactics capable of destroying multimillion-dollar vehicles and aircraft.
Another sober assessment puts things in perspective:
Contrary to what the president says, there is so far no reason to believe that the new security plan has made a big difference in the lives of Iraqis. The massacre of the Shiite pilgrims this week is among the more ominous developments. Protecting the pilgrims was the most important thing the government could have done. That so many were killed is no harbinger of progress. Three weeks into the surge, the Sunni Arab guerrillas are running rings around both al-Maliki’s forces and those of the U.S. How some extra troops for half a year will change that remains about as clear as Baghdad’s sky during a spring sandstorm.
Even while Bush’s new golden boy, General Petraeus, has said that no victory is possible without negotiation with the insurgency,… many at the Pentagon are unconvinced that any success will be forthcomming.
How many times do we have to say “we told you so” to these people?