None of the existing military commanders have said, when asked, that additional troops would solve the fundamental cause of violence, which was the absence of national reconciliation. They all said the same thing: we don’t need additional troops at this point; we need to get the Iraqis to assume the responsibility they’re supposed to assume. So what does Bush do, he removes the military commanders.
Even Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the replacement commander, in the past talked about the need to train and embed U.S. forces in the Iraqi army. Now, newly appointed, he is singing the Bush party line. But a "surge" could provide some political cover for an eventual withdrawl. If the Iraqi government doesn’t make political progress then all the troops in the world won’t make any difference. What a mess they have gotten us into.
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