IRAQ: The U.S. Surge... More of a Fizzle?

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008 23:02 GMT

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IRAQ: U.S. Officials Admit Worry over a ‘Difficult’ al-Maliki
By Gareth Porter
WASHINGTON - U.S. officials privately admit being concerned that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki has become "overconfident" about his government’s ability to manage without U.S. combat troops, according to an Iraq analyst who just returned from a trip to Iraq arranged by U.S. commander General David Petraeus.
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POLITICS-US: One-Fifth of Iraq Funding Paid to Contractors
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - As a new report forecasts that the 190,000 private contractors in Iraq and neighbouring countries will cost U.S. taxpayers more than 100 billion dollars by the end of 2008, an under-the-radar Florida court case suggests that U.S. President George W. Bush -- a staunch contractor supporter -- is preparing to throw security contractors such as Blackwater under the political bus.
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POLITICS-US: How Tenet Betrayed the CIA on WMD in Iraq
Analysis by Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON - Journalist Ron Suskind’s revelation that Saddam Hussein’s intelligence chief was a prewar intelligence source reporting to the British that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) adds yet another dimension to the systematic effort by then Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet to quash any evidence -- no matter how credible -- that conflicted with the George W. Bush administration’s propaganda line that Saddam was actively pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.
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POLITICS-US: No Traction in the Middle East
Analysis by Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - More than five years after invading Iraq as a first step towards "transforming" the Middle East, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush seems to have lost its footing -- let alone its unquestioned domination -- throughout the region.
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AFGHANISTAN: Karzai’s Threat Of War Triggers Outrage in Pakistan
By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR - Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s threat to send troops across the border to crush pro-Taliban forces, which sparked angry protests in Pakistan’s border areas this week, has led to calls for restraint from moderate politicians in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
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US/IRAQ: Pressure to Cut Costs, Troops Strains "Surge"
By Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON - Growing impatience in Congress over the enormous costs being racked up by the Iraq war, as well as the Pentagon's belief that it needs more troops in Afghanistan to fight insurgents there, is putting the vaunted success of the George W. Bush administration's "surge" strategy to the test.
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IRAQ: In Tatters Beneath a Surge of Claims
Analysis by Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*
BAGHDAD - What the U.S. has been calling the success of a "surge", many Iraqis see as evidence of catastrophe. Where U.S. forces point to peace and calm, local Iraqis find an eerie silence.
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US: Overstretched Forces Concern Officers
By Ali Gharib
WASHINGTON - The U.S. military is "severely strained" by two large-scale occupations in the Middle East, other troop deployments, and problems recruiting, according to a new survey of military officers published by Foreign Policy magazine and the centrist think-tank Centre for a New American Strategy.
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US-IRAQ: Surge Exposing Political Tensions
By Ali Gharib
WASHINGTON - Despite assertions by the George W. Bush Administration that the escalation strategy in Iraq -- known as the "surge" -- has been a rousing success, many of the problems of pre-surge Iraq still exist and, along with new issues, are exacerbating a tenuous political situation there.
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CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Bush’s Twilight Year Looks Grim
Analysis by Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - If the last days of 2007 are any indication, U.S. President George W. Bush’s last year in office is shaping up as grim and lonely.
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CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Gates Led Realist Resurgence in ‘07
Analysis by Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - 2007 will likely go down in U.S. history as the year in which the balance of power in the long-running struggle between hawks and realists in the administration of President George W. Bush shifted decisively in favour of the latter.
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POLITICS-SAUDI ARABIA: Iran Polls Better Than U.S.
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - Although the image of the United States appears to have improved in Saudi Arabia over the past year, the Saudi public’s view of Washington remains largely negative, according to major new poll released here this week by Terror Free Tomorrow (TFT), a Washington, D.C.-based bipartisan group.
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POLITICS-US: Congress Clears More Funds for Both War and Relief
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - Racing to adjourn for the year, the U.S. Congress this week approved a 560- billion-dollar omnibus 2008 appropriation that includes 70 billion dollars more for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and sizable increases in development, refugee, and disaster assistance.
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Surge [L. surgere, to rise.] v.i. To swell; to flow suddenly or powerfully; to rise and roll, as waves.

George W. Bush's policy of escalating troops in Iraq, announced on Jan. 10, 2007, generated a new vocabulary: surge-heavyweight, escalation, "new way forward", "no middle way"... Is there a post-surge strategy? So far, there is only low morale among the troops and increasing civilian casualties and strife. Extricating the United States from its bloodiest and most costly overseas adventure since the Vietnam War seems an impossible task.