Word: itely
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...power-sharing arrangement. That, quite simply, has not happened, nor is there any sign that it's likely to. The reason the politicians have failed to agree is not the violence on the streets; the violence itself is in most instances a symptom of the power struggles between Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish factions, as well as, in some cases, the internecine struggles for political dominance within those communities. The power struggle among Iraqis is nowhere near over...
...were merely stating the complexities of a difficult situation. But in a war, there is a need for executive decision making when it comes to priorities and contradictions: With al-Qaeda in Iraq on the run and, as Petraeus insisted, no need for American forces to resolve the Shi'ite chaos in the south, what was the rationale for keeping so many troops in Iraq? Why wasn't there a clearly defined strategic path for dealing with the country's political collapse? Those issues-the strategic ones-were beyond the reach of Petraeus and Crocker. And the Senators were left...
...seems clear the President has won this round. An optimistic general will trump a skeptical politician anytime. Even when Petraeus gave sketchy, disingenuous answers-expressing hope about the three-way Shi'ite gang war in the oil-rich port city of Basra-not even the most knowledgeable Senators had the facts to dispute him. The general was armed with the modern military's deadliest weapon, the PowerPoint-presentation-serried ranks of bar charts marching toward victory, which provided camouflage for the gaping holes and contradictions in the Petraeus-Crocker story. Crocker, for example, seemed particularly insistent on roping Iran into...
...unasked question was so profound that Petraeus, a proud man, chose to answer it anyway. "I believe that my optimism back when I showed those very fine Iraqi forces to Senator Boxer was justified," he said. The good work was undone, though, in 2006, when Shi'ite militias "hijacked" whole units of the Iraqi military. But, he insisted, we are back on the right track now. Petraeus may well be right-or maybe not. The nature of military leadership is congenital optimism; officers are trained to complete the mission, to refuse to countenance the possibility of failure. That focus...
...Baghdad to Kuwait or Kurdistan. Others have called for the military to concentrate on training the Iraqi army - a project that has already cost the U.S. billions, to little effect. American soldiers complain that their nominal allies in the Iraqi police and army are more loyal to Shi'ite militias than to the national government. An American intelligence officer in a western Baghdad suburb reports that the Iraqi police there are so thoroughly infiltrated by insurgents that the entire force is useless. Bush has recently returned to the mantra that as the Iraqis stand up, the U.S. will stand down...