The temporary surge

From what I’ve been reading the new way forward for the Bush administration is a temporary surge in American troops. They would be concentrated in Baghdad. They would be there to take on Sadr’s army.

Supposedly there is intense political effort going on to realign the Maliki government so as to include those members of parliament loyal to Sadr. With the Sadr representatives out of the way it is thought Maliki would be able to support the American effort to crush Sadr’s army. Maliki has shown that he is very much beholden to Sadr. It was orders from Maliki which removed the road blocks from around Sadr City in Baghdad. Almost immediately after those road blocks were removed there were attacks in Sadr City.

How is this surge to be accomplished. By keeping American forces in Iraq that were supposed to be leaving and sending in the next rotation early. The plan is to increase the number of troops anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000. Further straining the military’s capability. It is also just unfair to the troops that were promised that they could go home. This is not the first time this has been pulled. I have to believe that this would be devastating to morale. Once again because of the incompetency of the Bush administration the armed forces are paying the price.

It should also be pointed out that this was tried early this year with Operation Together Forward II. It was a failure. Why should this time around be any different? What is to say that the maneuvers to get Sadr out of the government will work. Should Sadr’s influence be removed the government what is to say that Maliki will be any more cooperative this time around.

How long will the surge last? Perhaps more to the point once it is over will the Iraqi forces be ready to take up the slack. This was a point Prime Minister Blair made. What happens after the surge? Does anyone really think there will be enough time to bring the Iraqis up to speed. The problem throughout this was has been the lack of manpower. American forces have been able to go into areas and clear out the bad guys. However, there have never been enough troops in Iraq to hold the ground. So once the Americans leave the bad guys come back.

Why will this time be any different?