When this happens, daily life will improve, Iraqis will gain confidence in their leaders, and the government will have the breathing space it needs to make progress in other critical areas. Most of Iraq's Sunni and Shia want to live together in peace -- and reducing the violence in Baghdad will help make reconciliation possible.In his own words, Bush clearly explained that the goal of the surge was to provide political "breathing space" that would help make "reconciliation possible". Right-wing bloggers like Engram have been doing their level best to rewrite history to claim that reconciliation was never the goal of the surge in the first place; that it was all about improving security. In their view, all we needed to do in Iraq was improve security, and it's perfectly fine if the Iraqis spend the next 100 years bickering about how to turn their fragmented, failed state into a cohesive functioning society.
Fortunately, we have the words of the president himself to prove the "surge is working" crowd wrong. And, we have the relentless efforts of the Iraqis themselves to subvert a meaningful and effective reconciliation:
Iraq's presidential council rejected a measure Wednesday setting up provincial elections, sending it back to parliament in the latest setback to U.S.-backed national reconciliation efforts.But don't worry. According to Dana Perino, they just need a little more time:
"We believe that the Iraqis will be able to work it out," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
"While we would have liked to have it go forward without any complications, this is democracy at work," she said.
What's another year and another 1,000 of our heroes killed and thousands more wounded, maimed or crippled for life? We've got plenty more where those came from.
What's another $200 billion down the rat hole? We've got plenty of cash lying around that we have nothing to do with.
Enough already. Bring our troops home now.
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