News Talk 1410: "Violence in Iraq continues at an alarming rate"

News Talk 1410 radio station in LaCrosse reports:

"Congress will get a report in September on how the U.S. troop surge is working in Iraq. But many congressmen aren't waiting for that report.. They already feel the strategy has failed. Bruce Marcus spoke to Minnesota Democratic Rep Tim Walz about that. Walz says the surge was meant to buy time for Iraqi leaders to settle their political differences. But the violence in Iraq continues at an alarming rate. And the Iraqi government still hasn't gotten its act together. So many members of Congress now want U. S. forces to begin coming home."

The Washington Post reports that Gates Defers Travel Plans To Help With Iraq Report, and that a growing chorus of Republican lawmakers are questioning the war:

The move comes amid growing pressure on the Bush administration to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. The political climate for the war in Washington has grown markedly worse in recent days, with a group of senior Republicans changing their stance on Iraq and now leaning toward a withdrawal of troops.

On Thursday, Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) became the latest to announce his break with President Bush, joining Republican Sens. Richard G. Lugar, (Ind.), George V. Voinovich (Ohio), John W. Warner (Va.) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.) in voicing some level of pessimism about the current U.S. course.

Congress has given the Bush administration two deadlines to report on the situation in Iraq and assess whether it is improving. The first of those deadlines is Sunday, and the Pentagonsaid in a statement yesterday that Gates's participation is needed in policy meetings.

Senior administration officials have already concluded that the Iraqi government is unlikely to meet any of the benchmarks that Bush set for it earlier this year, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

Closer to home, KEYC-TV in Mankato last night broadcast Violence Escalates in Iraq. In today's paper, the Washington Post reports Attack Kills Nearly Two Dozen Iraqi Army Recruits.  For Iraqi civilians,  'A Funeral Service In Every House', the WaPo reports, while for some American soldiers, Unit's Mission: Survive 4 Miles To Remember Fallen Comrade.

Comments

[Charley]

Arms that the US has supplied to the Iraqi army have clearly ended up with the Shia militia forces. Arms that the US is supplying to Sunni forces now claiming to oppose Al Quida in Iraq are also ending up in the hands of Sunni militias.

So we have a situation where the United States is arming both sides of the civil war. At this point, it should be clear that there is no thought about Iraq becoming a self-governing and sovereign country. That would be contrary to the original goals of the neocons in invading Iraq in the first place. Most reasonable people would now conclude that peace can never come in Iraq until the United States ends its occupation.

We dismantled the government. We destroyed the country. The healing cannot start until we leave. That much is clear.