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The Surge Dirge Part Deux

Once again, we are being treated to the obvious: the surge just isn't working.
Three months into the new U.S. military strategy that has sent tens of thousands of additional troops into Iraq, overall levels of violence in the country have not decreased, as attacks have shifted away from Baghdad and Anbar, where American forces are concentrated, only to rise in most other provinces, according to a Pentagon report released yesterday.

Yesterday, a Shiite shrine in Samarra that was bombed in early 2006 was hit again. Some are speculating who carried it out but regardless, it is only likely to increase the chances of reprisal attacks spiraling out of control. Makes you wonder if the weapons we just forked over to the Sunnis will be used to exact revenge for the retribution inflicted following the shrine bombing.

But not to worry, folks. It's still far to early to call the surge a failure, regardless of what Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid say. We gotta give the surge time to take hold. Heck, we're still waiting for the full surge force to get into place. So just sit tight and we'll see what Gen. Petreaus has to say about the surge come September.

Oh, about that.
A September progress report on the U.S. troop increase in Iraq that President George W. Bush called an important moment for his war strategy is unlikely to be a "pivotal" assessment, officials now say.

Amid unrelenting bloodshed in Iraq and scant signs of progress by the Iraqi government in meeting political benchmarks, the White House sought to temper expectations of rapid strides resulting from a security crackdown begun at the start of this year.

Perhaps the Bushies will just use a different set of metrics to measure progress. Of course, the only metrics that really matter are the ones that "venerable" FOX News personalities like Bill O'Reilly think "don't mean anything".

(Filed at State of the Day and Blognonymous)