Bronco_Beerslug
07-01-2007, 09:14 PM
Anyone wagering on that happening?
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Analysis: Only Iraqis Can Win the War (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3333890&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312)
By ROBERT BURNS AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON Jul 1, 2007 (AP)
The harder President Bush has pushed to win in Iraq, the closer he has come to losing. The question no longer is whether the U.S. military can fully stabilize Iraq. It cannot. That was a possibility four years ago, immediately after Saddam Hussein's government fell. Before the insurgency took hold. Before U.S. occupation authorities lost any chance to avoid the sectarian strife of today's Iraq. Now only the Iraqis can save Iraq.
They need the U.S. military's help, no doubt. But the Bush administration has made no secret of the fact that the U.S. troop buildup in Baghdad is simply buying time for the Iraqis to sort out their differences, create a government of national unity and show they can defend themselves.
So it is not whether the U.S. can win the war. It is whether the Iraqis can, which is in great doubt.
With limited sign of progress in Baghdad, U.S. officials are asking themselves how long it makes sense to tolerate an escalating rate of U.S. casualties at least 3,576 dead since the war began in March 2003 while the Iraqis debate and delay.
In a speech Thursday, Bush struck a notably optimistic tone about his strategy and gave no indication he was ready to give up or change approach. Yet he lowered the bar on expectations and cited Israel as a model for defining success in Iraq: a functioning democracy that nonetheless absorbs terrorist attacks.
Among the questions central to the debate in Washington over winding up the conflict without widening it are:
How much worse might things get if U.S. troops left and the sectarian killing escalated?
Would Turkey, Iran or other neighboring states intervene militarily?
Would the al-Qaida terrorist organization inside Iraq secure a lasting haven from which it could launch attacks across the region? "Lighting the Middle East on fire," is how one Pentagon insider sees that outcome.
CONT.
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Analysis: Only Iraqis Can Win the War (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3333890&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312)
By ROBERT BURNS AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON Jul 1, 2007 (AP)
The harder President Bush has pushed to win in Iraq, the closer he has come to losing. The question no longer is whether the U.S. military can fully stabilize Iraq. It cannot. That was a possibility four years ago, immediately after Saddam Hussein's government fell. Before the insurgency took hold. Before U.S. occupation authorities lost any chance to avoid the sectarian strife of today's Iraq. Now only the Iraqis can save Iraq.
They need the U.S. military's help, no doubt. But the Bush administration has made no secret of the fact that the U.S. troop buildup in Baghdad is simply buying time for the Iraqis to sort out their differences, create a government of national unity and show they can defend themselves.
So it is not whether the U.S. can win the war. It is whether the Iraqis can, which is in great doubt.
With limited sign of progress in Baghdad, U.S. officials are asking themselves how long it makes sense to tolerate an escalating rate of U.S. casualties at least 3,576 dead since the war began in March 2003 while the Iraqis debate and delay.
In a speech Thursday, Bush struck a notably optimistic tone about his strategy and gave no indication he was ready to give up or change approach. Yet he lowered the bar on expectations and cited Israel as a model for defining success in Iraq: a functioning democracy that nonetheless absorbs terrorist attacks.
Among the questions central to the debate in Washington over winding up the conflict without widening it are:
How much worse might things get if U.S. troops left and the sectarian killing escalated?
Would Turkey, Iran or other neighboring states intervene militarily?
Would the al-Qaida terrorist organization inside Iraq secure a lasting haven from which it could launch attacks across the region? "Lighting the Middle East on fire," is how one Pentagon insider sees that outcome.
CONT.