Bush says offensive in Iraq just beginning

Back in January, when President Bush announced the latest surge in Iraq, the president recognized that the war hadn't gone well.

Now, he and supporters of the war would have us believe that the surge has changed everything. They're taking every opportunity to repeat it in public, to say that we're finally beginning to see progress.

What I want to know is how they define progress, how they define victory, and why, after years of miserable failure, they should rightly be trusted with any of this now?

Beyond the White House, though, what goal do Bush war supporters feel we are making progress toward?

I'm not going to pretend to know what this White House wants in Iraq. They absolutely cannot be trusted anymore. They're either incompetent or lying - take your pick - so however they define progress and victory is meaningless to me at this point.

But I will go out on a limb and say that I think some of the war's supporters outside of the president's inner circle are trustworthy and do speak from the heart on Iraq. One of the challenges surrounding this and every issue are all the different voices and special interests with different agendas.

Of those who still have some credibility, how do they define victory and progress in Iraq? -- A stable Iraq? A US ally? A free Iraq? What about progress? They're saying the surge is working. How do they define, "working"? How is it working? Are we now closer to a stable Iraq? A US ally? A free Iraq?

I'll tell you what I want for Iraq at this point -- I want them to forgive us, I don't want the United States to continue being justification for the factions in Iraq to use to kill each other, and I want to help Iraq the way the majority in Iraq would like us to help them. Whatever they want that to be. What do they want from us now? Not their fake-ass government, but the people themselves. What do they want?

From what I've read, Iraqis are dying at twice the rate they were a year ago (Violence down in Baghdad; deaths up in Iraq).

"...one of the major themes expected in next month's Iraq progress report to Congress: some military headway, but extremist factions are far from broken. In street-level terms, it means life for average Iraqis appears to be even more perilous and unpredictable."

Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths throughout the country compared with last year -- an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year.

Nearly 1,000 more people have been killed in violence across Iraq in the first eight months of this year than in all of 2006. So far this year, about 14,800 people have died in war-related attacks and sectarian slayings. AP reporting accounted for 13,811 deaths in 2006. The United Nations and other sources placed the 2006 toll far higher.

According to the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization, the number of displaced Iraqis has more than doubled since the start of the year, from 447,337 on Jan. 1 to 1.14 million July 31.

However, Brig. Gen. Richard Sherlock, deputy director for operational planning for the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said violence in Iraq "has continued to decline and is at the lowest level since June 2006." (Bloodshed falls in Baghdad, but casualties up in Iraq). He offered no statistics to back his claim.

A little perspective

When the president says, "This [Iraq] is hard work," I don't get the feeling he truly grasps the magnitude. I just don't get the feeling he comprehends the history in Iraq or the complexity of the task.

• August 26, 2007

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