Like a Greek tragedy
The only surprising part of this report on the unavoidable failing of the surge in Iraq is the fact that the Washington Post decided to burry it in page 10:
BAGHDAD, March 13 — Iraqi leaders have failed to take advantage of a reduction in violence to make adequate progress toward resolving their political differences, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday.
Petraeus, who is preparing to testify to Congress next month on the Iraq war, said in an interview that "no one" in the U.S. and Iraqi governments "feels that there has been sufficient progress by any means in the area of national reconciliation," or in the provision of basic public services.
The general’s comments appeared to be his sternest to date on Iraqis’ failure to achieve political reconciliation. In February, following the passage of laws on the budget, provincial elections and an amnesty for certain detainees, Petraeus was more encouraging. "The passage of the three laws today showed that the Iraqi leaders are now taking advantage of the opportunity that coalition and Iraqi troopers fought so hard to provide," he said at the time.
The surge didn’t fail because of military incompetence, it failed because the army was asked to provide something it is incapable to provide - a political solution. It is often easy to mistake the ability of an army to use violence effectively with the effectiveness of such means to deliver political outcomes. Armies are in fact a very limited organizations that can, at best, be used to capture area, defend it and damage enemy forces. Using the military forces to achieve more than that is more often than not end up as failure.
And despite the facts, and long history to learn from, the temptation to use the army for exactly the wrong mission is still very strong. Don’t let the facts, and the simple realization that the surge is failing to achieve its strategic gaol, it will be used by McCain to attack his democratic rivals…
Tags: 2008 Elections, McCain, The Middle East, The War in IraqRelated posts
Warning: strtotime() [function.strtotime]: Called with an empty time parameter. in /var/www/vhosts/rogelsview.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/disqus/disqus.php on line 130
blog comments powered by Disqus
Add New Comment
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment
Trackbacks