The Surge Escalation Still Makes No Sense- Just Props Up Corrupt and Incompetent Iraqi Government at US Taxpayer Expense

In December we wrote this piece, Why a Surge in US Troops Won't Work: Iraq's Descent into Civil War. Since then, nothing has changed. The Al-Maliki government is still corrupt, weak and ineffective. We've noted previously that much of it resides abroad. It even includes a member who attacked the US Embassy in Kuwait. How any decent American can ask our troops to die for such a government is beyond me.

Does anyone really think that the ultimate government in Iraq is going to be pro-American? If yes, please explain it to me when the present government--despite 100's of billions of US dollars spent and hundreds of thousands of US troops having served--isn't. If you don't think the ultimate government in Iraq will be pro-Western, then why should we support it? No True Believer has yet stepped up to explain to me why US kids from the Midwest should die so that some corrupt Iraqi can collect his paycheck in Jordan, though I again invite you to do so. Are there NO American patriots left--only those that lie and spout GOP talking points that this surge makes any freakin' sense under these circumstances?

As we noted recently in a comment, the fundamental reasoning behind the surge is flawed: how will more US troops bring Iraqis intent on killing each other together? Building a walled Sunni ghetto in Baghdad, which reminds people of the security wall in Israel, is a bone-headed short term fix that has no support within Iraq. ONLY NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN IRAQIS AND THE REGIONAL POWERS (including the Saudis) THAT SUPPORT THEM, AND NOT THESE TYPE OF SURGE RELATED FANTASIES WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE ON THE GROUND.

This piece from yesterday's USA Today notes that: Al-Maliki support eroding in Iraq:

By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY
BAGHDAD — A broad range of prominent Iraqi lawmakers say they have lost confidence in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ability to reconcile the country's warring factions. A leading Kurdish lawmaker said al-Maliki should resign.

Legislators from several parties told USA TODAY that al-Maliki lacks the support in parliament to push through laws, such as a plan to distribute oil revenues, that could reduce tensions between Sunnis and Shiites. Iraq's parliament has failed to pass major legislation since a U.S.-led security plan began on Feb. 14.

"He is a weak prime minister," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish legislator who supported al-Maliki until recently. "This government hasn't delivered and is not capable of doing the job. They should resign."

The loss of support came as Democrats agreed Monday on legislation that would force U.S. troops to begin leaving Iraq by Oct. 1. President Bush, who said he would veto the bill, has argued that Iraq's government needs more time to calm sectarian violence.

As Gen. Barry McCaffrey said yeterday, The Iraqi government in power is dysfunctional. There is essentially no province in Iraq where the central government holds sway. It’s not true in the Kurdish areas. … It’s not true in Basra, where there’s a struggle for power among the Shiites, it’s essentially not true in any part of the country.

Even Sec. Gates seems to get this. As Think Progress reports:


“Twice now in the past week, Defense Secretary Gates has raised hackles at the White House with headline-making comments on Iraq that sounded a different note from the official line,” saying that the congressional Iraq timeline debate has been helpful, and that the “clock is ticking” for the Iraqi government to make political progress.

Gates’s comments…unsettled Iraq strategists on the Bush team who fear that too many signals about the limits of U.S. patience could backfire, rather than induce the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to get its act together. “If they feel we’re going to leave, they’ll cut deals with Moqtada Sadr” and other bad guys, says one Iraq expert who consults with the White House.

A DoD official says the Pentagon has heard a “question or two” about Gates’s comments from the White House, but that is all. A White House spokesperson did not immediately return a call asking for comment.

Let's be perfectly straight here: the surge is a fantasy, just another lie among many about this ill-conceived and wrong-headed war.