Iraq State of the Union

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Earlier this week, USA Today ran two conflicting articles regarding Iraq.

An Op-Ed piece citing the surge's success in crime reduction says, "there’s a chance that Bush’s worst blunder — a pre-emptive invasion based on faulty premises — might turn out better than his detractors thought possible (Bush's Reversal of Fortune.)"

However, an inside story on the five soldiers killed Monday says, "Influential members of al-Sadr's movement said Monday that they have urged the anti-American cleric to call off the six-month cease-fire when it expires in February (Five Soldier die in Restive Mosul.)"

George W. Bush is inconsequential in determining the outcome in Iraq, and al-Sadr is instead a deciding factor, as it is his unilateral cease-fire that is allowing the U.S. and Iraqi government forces the freedom of action to fight al-Qaeda Mesopotamia. If and when al-Sadr cancels his cease-fire, that will usher in a defining moment in the conflict, exceeding the effect of The Surge.

A surge is when al-Sadr puts 100,000+ trained, equipped and dedicated fighters back into the equation. Do our analysts not recognize this fact?

Reality must be addressed. The violence level in Iraq has nothing to do with the security or defense of our homeland from any terror threats. Iraq and Afghanistan are not the key issues. The mission of securing America starts at our shores, and should be realistically addressed with pro-active terrorism counteraction measures.

As the WaPo notes today, there is an "appalling gap" found in homeland defense readiness.

A congressional commission reported Monday,

The situation is rooted in severe readiness problems in National Guard and reserve forces, which would otherwise be well-suited to respond to domestic crises but lack sufficient personnel and training, as well as $48 billion in equipment because of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a report by the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves."

This is a waste of assets that this country can ill-afford to squander.

As an aside, the same paper ran a sidebar on President Bush's grandiose gesture to lay aside $300 million in Pell-type grants for public school children to apply to attending private or parochial schools. Talk about generosity -- $300 million is less than a few minute's funding for the Phony War on Terror. I guess we could call it the No War Left Behind fund. Greg Palast covers it well here.

$300 million is an insult, not an initiative.

--Jim