Word: baghdad
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...funding bill. Congresswoman Jane Harman of California called as the debate was taking place. "Look, I would love to have cast a vote against Bush on this," she told me. "We need a new strategy, and I hope we can force one in September. But I flew into Baghdad [with 150 young soldiers recently]. To vote against this bill was to vote against giving them the equipment... they need. I couldn't do that." I posted what Harman said on Swampland, the political blog at Time.com, along with my opinion that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had changed their positions...
...succeeded in its goal of reducing sectarian violence in Iraq. And they aren't encouraging. Sectarian violence is nearly back to its pre-surge levels in Iraq - and rising. Recent weeks have seen greater murder rates. And the numbers seem unlikely to go down with so much of Baghdad still uncontrolled; U.S. commanders recently acknowledged that two-thirds of the capital remain unsecured...
...February. Sectarian deaths are often described as "extra-judicial killings" (EJKs) and involve the abduction, torture and murder of the victim, with the body usually left on the street. In May, says the Brookings report, citing Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace, there were roughly 700 EJKs across Baghdad. While still lower than the pre-surge figure of 800 in February, that's a substantial increase from the estimated 500 in each of March and April, the first two months of the surge. So far in June, about 20 bodies have appeared on the streets of Baghdad...
Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, the new spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad, argues that the latest statistics don't represent a long-term trend. "It will periodically spike up, like we saw with violence in May," says Bergner, who stressed that the overall level of violence in Baghdad has lowered since January. Nevertheless, he says, "that doesn't mean it's going to be a steady, downward trajectory." Progress, Bergner explains, will continue to appear uneven for some time...
...plan seems to be disappearing. As a result, the deterrence card has now been played, and the gamble appears to be lost, just as the last of the U.S. troops sent for the surge get into place. As of last month, 13,000 additional U.S. troops were deployed in Baghdad as part of the surge, which ultimately will bring the number of U.S. forces in Baghdad to some 30,000. Bergner says the last of the U.S. surge forces will be in place in about two weeks, adding that it could be up to 60 days before all the forces...