Handing over control of the country's security to Iraqi forces is vital to any eventual drawdown of U.S. forces here. After disbanding the remaining Iraqi army following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, coalition forces have been training the new Iraqi military.Okay, well, this is obviously a necessary step if we’re ever going to withdraw, although I’m not sure what suddenly makes sense about this handover that didn’t makes the exact same sense six months ago. Or a year ago. Or two years ago. Back then, the excuse was that Iraq wasn’t ready, but are they any more ready now, really? There’s more violence now there than ever, undoubtedly making the transition even harder.
However, it is unclear exactly how quickly Iraqi forces will be prepared to take over their own security.
Days before the engagement, the 8th Division's commander, Brig. Gen. Othman al-Farhoud, told The Associated Press his forces still needed support from the U.S.-led coalition for things such as medical assistance, storage facilities and air support.
"In my opinion, it will take time," al-Farhoud said when asked how long it would take before his division was completely self-sufficient.
Violence continued in the hours before the handover Thursday. Six bomb attacks targeting police patrols in Baghdad killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 50.Control of the country was handed over to the Iraqi interim government on June 28, 2004 (right before the final push of the presidential election), at which time Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said: “We feel we are capable of controlling the security situation,” even though they clearly weren’t. Now, we’re handing over control of the military (right before the final push of the midterm elections), and there’s no evidence that the Iraqi government is going to be better able to control the increasingly spiraling security situation now than they were then.
A suicide car bomb targeting a police patrol outside a gas station near the Elouya Hospital in central Baghdad killed 10 people, including four policemen, and wounded 21, police said.
Another suicide car bombing in Taiyran Square in the center of the city killed three policemen and wounded 15, the prime minister's office said. Police initially reported two civilians and two policemen were killed.
Two suicide car bombs exploded near al-Nidaa Mosque in northern Baghdad, the prime minister's office said. Nobody was hurt in the first, but the second killed three civilians and wounded 12.
Another suicide car bomb in Taiyran Square in the center of the city killed two civilians and two police special forces members, and wounded 13 people, police said.
In western Baghdad, a roadside bombing in Qahtan Square near Yarmouk hospital wounded four people, including a policeman, Mahmoud said. Elsewhere, in the upscale district of Mansour, a roadside bomb explosion killed a man and injured his daughter and another person, police said.
I understand the motivations behind the argument that we’re got to stay in Iraq until we fix what we’ve broken, but it’s obvious at this point that we can’t effectively address what’s going on there now, and even if we could, the Bush administration isn’t really interested in doing that, anyway. They hand over administrative control at a time when it will ostensibly help Bush. They hand over military control at a time when it will ostensibly help Congressional Republicans. Their decisions aren’t being made by what’s happening on the ground in Iraq, but according to what’s happening in polls in America.
If Bush were really interested in turning this endeavor into a success, he’d commit more troops, even if it necessitated a draft, and dig in with no regard for American casualties until it was done right. But he’s not really interested in that, because Americans would never stand for it, and his party—and worse yet, his legacy!—would suffer severe blows. So he’s going to keep talking tough while he dicks around, trying to win back the support of the increasing number of Americans who want us the hell out of Iraq, because they see it’s not winnable, before they realize that it’s because of him that it isn’t.
The whole thing is completely disgusting, utterly disingenuous, totally antithetical to his “stay the course” and “I make hard decisions even if they’re unpopular” rhetoric, and basically just a shameful blight on America. And that doesn’t even begin to describe the mess he’s created for the Iraqi people.
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