Iraqis Wasting An Opportunity, U.S. Officers Say

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: Washington Post

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq -- Senior military commanders here now portray the intransigence of Iraq's Shiite-dominated government as the key threat facing the U.S. effort in Iraq, rather than al-Qaeda terrorists, Sunni insurgents or Iranian-backed militias.

In more than a dozen interviews, U.S. military officials expressed growing concern over the Iraqi government's failure to capitalize on sharp declines in attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. A window of opportunity has opened for the government to reach out to its former foes, said Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the commander of day-to-day U.S. military operations in Iraq, but "it's unclear how long that window is going to be open."

The lack of political progress calls into question the core rationale behind the troop buildup President Bush announced in January, which was premised on the notion that improved security would create space for Iraqis to arrive at new power-sharing arrangements. And what if there is no such breakthrough by next summer? "If that doesn't happen," Odierno said, "we're going to have to review our strategy."

Brig. Gen. John F. Campbell, deputy commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division, complained last week that Iraqi politicians appear out of touch with everyday citizens. "The ministers, they don't get out," he said. "They don't know what the hell is going on on the ground." Campbell noted approvingly that Lt. Gen. Aboud Qanbar, the top Iraqi commander in the Baghdad security offensive, lately has begun escorting cabinet officials involved in health, housing, oil and other issues out of the Green Zone to show them, as Campbell put it, "Hey, I got the security, bring in the essential services."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/14/AR2007111402524.html?nav=rss_email/components

[Joanne98]

1. It's not a war, it's an opportunity! I hope Naomi Klein is selling her book in Arabic!

[merh]

2. If the US wasn't tying to shove the hydrocarbon bill down

parliaments throat, that power sharing deal would be easier, just sayin'

[rocktivity]

3. Candidate for this month's "You Call This NEWS?" award

Well, duh! Just like the surge itself, the idea that less violence would generate more unity was ridiculous. How do these officials-whose-names-must-not-be-spoken expect the ministers to "get out" if they know they could get blown up, and possibly by U.S. forces themselves? And certainly shouldn't be news to Bush that any non-secular Iraqi government he backed would not be interesting in sharing power.

:eyes:
rocknation

[gratuitous]

4. Why those rotten ingrates! Squandering an opportunity

We should invade their country, destroy their political system, and occupy them until they come to their senses and do what we want them to do.

We already did that?

Oh.

I'm out of ideas, then.