You won't hear this from George w. Bush or his sidekick veep, Loki, but the obvious truth is still getting out. The New York Times has reviewed a summary from commanders in Baghdad that concludes the US forces claim they are able to "protect the population" and "maintain physical influence over" only 146 of the 457 Baghdad neighborhoods.
The report notes the US forces are being undermined by Iraqi security and military forces that often either fail to show up or perform poorly.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse, retired US Lt.-Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, said the US can now forget about winning in Iraq. Sanchez, who commanded American forces in Iraq in the first year of the occupation, says the best that can be hoped for is a stalemate but even achieving that will require a new generation of leaders, political and military.
Sanchez told AFP that a large troop commitment would be needed for years to come but conceded it is "very questionable" whether Americans would support it.
Sanchez is undoubtedly right. With domestic support for the Iraq war now dropping to roughly 25%, the patience of Americans has worn thin. Bush & Company have squandered the goodwill of their own people through their incompetence and their own lack of goodwill.
Every group now vying so viciously for power in Iraq knows that Bush has already lost the war at home and the push will now be on to increase the American blood price over the summer to force his hand.
As a sign of just how out of touch the administration is with conditions in Iraq, Rumsfeld's replacement, Robert Gates, recently mused about the establishment of permanent US military bases in Iraq along the lines of the US presence in South Korea. He seems to miss the distinction that South Korea isn't in a state of anarchy with half the population only too happy to put a bullet in an American back.
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