The security situation is improved on each piece of ground directly beneath our soldiers’ feet. Put these soldiers in vehicles, and the IED explosions argue against this theory. Our forces exit an area, and what happens then? The security situation reverts back to what it was prior to our surge of bodies into it. Insurgents, as often as they may incorrectly be described as puppets under the control of outside forces, are the Iraqis themselves. An obviously illegitimate, and hastily established national government has for the most part dissolved, while one level down, back-to-back assassinations of regional governors signal a grim reality, that the political situation will have to be built from the bottom up to exist with any authority or legitimacy.

Iraq’s Prime Minister has visited Iran, and has invited the Iranian President to Iraq. Just as we supplied arms to both sides in the Iran-Iraq war, and to Afghani insurgents in their fight against a Soviet occupying force, other nations in the world are doing the exact same thing, as the oil siphoned off and stolen each month since the invasion by insurgents provides ample trade value for whatever is needed. The events in Iraq are driving the situation, regardless of US policy. We are simply along for the ride at this point. In the year 2007 Iraq has destabilized politically, with both Sunni and al-Sadr’s Shiite blocs essentially pulling out of the federal government altogether, thereby rendering every single piece of legislation needing to be passed an impossibility.

This will never get better for us. On our account the Iraqis will not do a single thing from now until we finally leave. An intellectually dishonest attempt by someone, to trump up the significance of peace in a neighborhood or city that our troops currently have on lock-down, is the only example I’ve heard over the past several weeks to explain why we are now on a path towards victory. “The surge is working”, they say. In Baghdad? In any areas where our troops are not currently a presence, is there peace and safety in Iraq today? There is not. Students of history, military history especially, must recognize our position in Iraq today, and realize it is an exact replica of the French occupations of Vietnam and Algeria, as well as our own occupation of Vietnam. Anyone who doesn’t at this point is choosing faith over reason, and in time, will find themselves on the wrong side of history. Perhaps even then, arguing against something as certain as gravity.  (deadissue)