NYT: Surge is not working

[uberllama42]

BAGHDAD, June 3 — Three months after the start of the Baghdad security plan that has added thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital, they control fewer than one-third of the city’s neighborhoods, far short of the initial goal for the operation, according to some commanders and an internal military assessment.

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In an interview, he said that while military planners had expected to make greater gains by now, that has not been possible in large part because Iraqi police and army units, which were expected to handle basic security tasks, like manning checkpoints and conducting patrols, have not provided all the forces promised, and in some cases have performed poorly.

That is forcing American commanders to conduct operations to remove insurgents from some areas multiple times. The heavily Shiite security forces have also repeatedly failed to intervene in some areas when fighters, who fled or laid low when the American troops arrived, resumed sectarian killings.

Full Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/04/world/middleeast/04surge.html?hp
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Okay, so the Shiite-dominated police are refusing to crack down on violence by Shiite militia groups, and the Iraqi Army is not taking responsibility for security in the majority of neighborhoods. The result is that the same areas need to be cleared repeatedly by the U.S. Army's First Cavalry.

These are precisely the problems which the surge was intended to remedy, or so we were told. Supposedly the 17,500 additional Army soldiers sent to Baghdad would work with the Iraqi Security Forces to ensure that they wouldn't have to clear neighborhoods repeatedly any more. The entire thing was predicated on the willingness of the Shiite government to crack down on Sunni militias.

Is anyone surprised at this? Baghdad has little chance of being pacified by anything short of permanent U.S. military presence in every neighborhood. Supposedly the rest of the country is going to fall in line after the initial challenge of Baghdad is overcome. It should be clear to everyone that the only answer is withdrawal as soon as possible. Why has no one in the government stopped the president and his war by now?