Worse Than the Usual Bad News From Iraq

MORE THAN MORE OF THE SAME. Not that there is actually any good news from Iraq, but the bad news seems particularly bad today.

A PATROL GONE WRONG. There were two things that were disturbing about the attack on the patrol that killed 5 Americans and resulted in 3 captured. Most importantly, the attack was an indication that Sunni insurgents are able to launch larger-scale operations than they had in the past. Also, insurgents were able to accomplish their mission before the American troops could call for air support, a sign that their tactics are becoming even more sophisticated. Needless to say, neither of these things is a sign that the surge is having a negative effect on the Sunni insurgency.

A GENERAL CALL FOR HELP. It was also a bad sign that General Benjamin Mixon publicly claim that he needed more troops to fight insurgents in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad. There is speculation that Secretary of Defense Gates has told generals like Mixon to speak their minds about insufficient troop levels because Gates himself is sceptical of the surge policy. I'm more than sceptical myself, but it's still deeply discouraging to think that Bush, Cheney, and their chickenhawk/weenie boy constituency at the American Enterprise Institute are still pushing a surge policy that doesn't have the respect of the people trying to carry it out.

TOO MUCH STRESS TO THE SYSTEM? Mixon also had choice words for the Iraqi government.

Mixon was withering in his criticism of the Iraqi government, saying it was hamstrung by bureaucracy and compromised by corruption and sectarian discord, making it unable to assist U.S. forces in Diyala.

Of course that's not much of a surprise to anyone who's been following news of the Iraq War with any closeness. However, Mixon's criticism does raise the possibility that the surge is more than Iraqi political and military institutions are capable of handling at the present time. It may be that an American withdrawal would draw down the civil war to a level that the Iraqi government could better handle.