Dammit! we did it again! We here and in my blog have said the same exact thing. Where's our check?


CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 24 -- Despite political pressure for a change of course in Iraq, the White House hopes to keep in place its existing military strategy and troop levels there after the mid-September report from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, administration officials said.

Even as the administration faced a new call this week from Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), a leading ally, to begin at least a symbolic withdrawal of troops by Christmas, White House officials said privately that they are not contemplating making major shifts before early next year. They said that next month's report is likely to highlight what they see as significant improvements in security over the past year and that they expect the president to assert that now is not the time to dramatically change approaches.


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They said that next month's report is likely to highlight what they see as significant improvements in security over the past year and that they expect the president to assert that now is not the time to dramatically change approaches.

They are nothing but snake oil salesmen. Significant? BS.

Since Pace will be leaving in Sept, I think he is trying to diplomatically say that the whole thing is BS.

They said that next month's report is likely to highlight what they see as significant improvements in security over the past year

Somebody is going to have to refresh my memory because despite what they are saying there are no significant improvements I can think of.

Improvements, yes. Significant, I hardly think so.

I guess there needs to be a definition of progress so we are all on the same page.

•Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths nationwide compared with last year — an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year.

•Nearly 1,000 more people have been killed in violence across Iraq in the first eight months of this year than in all of 2006. So far this year, about 14,800 people have died in war-related attacks and sectarian murders. The AP accounted for 13,811 deaths in 2006.

•Baghdad has gone from representing 76 percent of all civilian and police war-related deaths in Iraq in January to 52 percent in July, bringing it back to the same spot it was roughly a year ago.

Source

I agree and ask any Iraqi how the surge is going. After all I thought we were there for them, not some abstract benchmarks, but to help them move out of authoritarian rule. I could have been mistakened.