The various "gangs" have already marked out their "turf", and Bush and Gates point to this as some kind of success. It is far from the prosperous beacon of stability and democracy that Bush crowed the invasion and occupation would bring. Did we really invade Iraq to bring a group of gang leaders to power and create a humanitarian crisis? Apparently this is what we will have to settle for. This is the dark "brilliance" of Bush's team: if you want the troops to come home, start calling whatever the situation is in Iraq a 'success', pretend it's what we intended all along, and give Bush the credit. Otherwise, we'll just have to stay there longer until we all admit that Bush is a great visionary with a great plan.
Oh, and don't mention Diyala. We've already labeled Diyala as 'pacified'. How did we do that? Well, it was brilliant. We divided the terrorists into "good terrorists" and "bad terrorists", and we set the "good guys" loose on the "bad" guys. Now, we don't count the "good" terrorists as terrorists anymore, which means the numbers of the terrorists have gone way down overnight. The "good" terrorists aren't loyal to the Iraqi government, and, sure, they continue to do the same things they did before we gave them our blessing, but this somehow makes the government more powerful. I know, you're wondering if the Iraqi Army won't just have stronger militias to tackle in order to really gain control, but...and this is the truly brilliant part...that's the Iraqi Army's problem. So you're not buying that, eh? I guess that you don't want the troops to come home, then. Don't you want to "win"? Okay, then. Start smiling about the "progress". Besides, those people that are dying are mostly Iraqis, and mostly civilians, so that's an improvement, isn't it?
story from the Daily Star
Gates: US troop levels to fall pending Iraqi gains
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Saturday, December 22, 2007
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates held out hope Friday that US forces in Iraq could continue a steady decline next year if security keeps improving - leaving a 100,000-strong force by year end. Gates' statement followed a day of scattered violence across Iraq and several attacks on celebrants of Eid al-Adha Thursday.
While Gates would not put a specific number on Iraq troop levels, he agreed a consistent reduction would leave 10 brigades - roughly 100,000 troops - soon after American voters go to the polls for the 2008 presidential elections.
There are currently 158,000 US troops in Iraq - the first brigade not to be replaced left this month.
Gates said the capacity of Iraqi forces to bear more of the security burden and the ability of the Iraqi government to run the country are the leading factors that will influence how quickly US forces can leave.
"My hope has been that the circumstances on the ground will continue to improve in a way that would - when General [David] Petraeus and the [senior commanders] do their analysis in March - allow a continuation of the draw-downs at roughly the same pace as the first half of the year," Gates said.
At a Defense Department news conference, Gates was cautiously optimistic about further troop reductions beyond those already planned, but said the US wants "to sustain the gains that we have already made."
In September, Gates raised the possibility that US troop levels could be reduced to 100,000, if conditions improved in Iraq.
On Friday, Gates said it was a lapse on his part to give an absolute number.
Current plans call for reducing the current 20 combat brigades to 15 by next summer. Gates said that could be pared to 10 by the end of 2008 if violence in Iraq continues to ebb.
Gates also criticized Congress' choppy funding for the wars. He said while the Pentagon welcomed the recent appropriation, it is less money than needed.
Congress recently provided $70 billion for combat operations, only half of what the President had requested.
Gates' fragile optimism followed an autumnal lull in violence in Iraq and particularly in Baghdad. But the regularity of violence across the war-weary nation is a grave reminder of enduring sectarian enmities.
A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-rigged minibus into a police station south of Baghdad and killed five people, including four policemen on Friday, security officials and medics said.
The attack took place at 2:00 p.m. at Al-Rasheed police station in the town of Yusifiyah, 25 kilometers southwest of Baghdad, security officials said.
Eight people were also wounded in the attack, including seven policemen.
A medic at Baghdad's Al-Yarmukh hospital confirmed the attack and said the wounded policemen had been admitted for treatment at the facility.
Separately on Friday, a British armored personnel carrier was hit by a "suspected" roadside bomb, a spokesman for the British said. There were no reports of casualties.
AP Television News footage showed the vehicle ablaze with thick, black smoke billowing from it. British troops could be seen securing the site.
A spokesman for the British military said there were no casualties and no injuries.
Friday's violence followed a series of attacks on Thursday targeting civilians celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which shattered the calm of an otherwise unusually peaceful holiday period in Iraq.
Authorities said 19 people were killed in the attacks, including a US soldier, after a suicide bombing northeast of the capital and a car bomb in Baghdad.
The car bomb, planted outside a liquor store in a heavily guarded part of central Baghdad, killed at least three people.
The suicide bomber struck in Kanaan, a Shiite-dominated town near the city of Baqouba in Diyala Province, about 60 kilometers northeast of Baghdad. He detonated his explosives as a US patrol was about to enter a building where a city council meeting was to be held, the US military said.
The US military said one soldier and five civilians were killed, and that 10 more soldiers and one Iraqi were wounded. However, local police and the hospital morgue in Baqouba said 13 people were killed. An official with the morgue, who asked not to be identified as he was not authorized to release the information, said one more person later died of his injuries, bringing the total to 14.
The assistant police chief of Kanaan, Waleed Mitieb al-Karkhi, said the dead included three children and two women.
Much of the day's violence was centered in Diyala province, where turbulence has been slower to subside than other parts of Iraq and which includes areas that the US military has never controlled. - Agencies
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