Pentagon gives gloomy Iraq report


WASHINGTON - Sectarian violence is spreading in Iraq and the security problems have become more complex than at any time since the U.S. invasion in 2003, a Pentagon report said Friday.

In a notably gloomy report to Congress, the Pentagon reported that illegal militias have become more entrenched, especially in Baghdad neighborhoods where they are seen as providers of both security and basic social services.

The report described a rising tide of sectarian violence, fed in part by interference from neighboring Iran and Syria and driven by a "vocal minority" of religious extremists who oppose the idea of a democratic Iraq.

Death squads targeting mainly Iraqi civilians are a growing problem, heightening the risk of civil war, the report said.

"Death squads and terrorists are locked in mutually reinforcing cycles of sectarian strife," the report said, adding that the Sunni-led insurgency "remains potent and viable" even as it is overshadowed by the sect-on-sect killing.

"Conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq, specifically in and around Baghdad, and concern about civil war within the Iraqi civilian population has increased in recent months," the report said. It is the latest in a series of quarterly reports required by Congress to assess economic, political and security progress.

A growing number of members of Congress are calling for either a shift in the Bush administration's Iraq strategy or a timetable for beginning a substantial withdrawal of American forces. Although administration officials say progress is being made in Iraq, U.S. commanders have increased U.S. troop levels by about 13,000 over the past five weeks, to 140,000, mainly due to increased violence in the Baghdad area.

In response to the Pentagon's report Friday, the Senate's top Democrat, Harry Reid of Nevada, said it showed the Bush administration is "increasingly disconnected from the facts on the ground in Iraq."

"It is time for a new direction to end the war in Iraq, win the war on terror, and give the American people the real security they deserve," Reid said.

Sen. Jack Reed (news, bio, voting record), D-R.I., who recently returned from a visit to Iraq, said the report squared with what he saw there.

"Iraq is tipping toward civil war," Reed said.

Col. Thomas Vail, commander of a 101st Airborne brigade operating in the mostly Shiite areas of eastern Baghdad, told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday that an intensified effort to root out insurgents and quell sectarian violence in the capital is bearing fruit, leading to a decrease in sectarian murders in recent days.

"They understand a big stick," he said, referring to a bigger U.S. and Iraqi force confronting militias and others responsible for violence like the barrage of coordinated attacks across eastern Baghdad on Thursday. Iraqi police said they killed at least 64 people and wounded more than 286 within a half hour.

Peter Rodman, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, in a separate session with reporters, said that despite progress this summer in reviving the Iraqi economy, raising electricity production and increasing the number of trained Iraqi troops, security conditions have deteriorated.

The report covered the period since the Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki was seated May 20.

From that date through Aug. 11, the average number of attacks per week against Americans and Iraqis was 792, up 24 percent from the previous period of Feb. 11 to May 19. The 792 figure was the highest for any counting period since the war began. The previous high was 641 in the Feb. 11 to May 19 period.

"The last quarter, as you know has been rough," Rodman said. "The levels of violence are up and the sectarian quality of the violence is particularly acute and disturbing."

That assessment was tempered by a degree of optimism that the Iraqi government — with support from U.S. troops — will succeed in quelling the sectarian strife.

Optimism among ordinary Iraqis, however, has declined, the 63-page report said.

When asked if they believe "things will be better" in the future, the percentage of Iraqis responding positively has dropped over the past year — whether they were asked to look ahead six months, one year or five years — according to polling data cited in the report.

"The security situation is currently at its most complex state since the initiation of Operation Iraqi Freedom," the report said, using the U.S. military's name for the war that was launched in March 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein.

One of the most celebrated events during the period on which Friday's report was based was the killing of the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The report said that although this was a major success, al-Qaida remained a threat because of its "resilient, semiautonomous cellular structure."

Pentagon gives gloomy Iraq report - Yahoo! News

It is a very sad era for the people of Iraq and the image of America in the eyes of the world.

So what do republicans think about this? Is the pentagon lying along with the "liberal" media? Or could it be possible that, because of modern information exchange, the information was instead incredibly accurate?

It is a very sad era for the people of America! TrueMajority Oreos

In Iraq, Singing for a Chance at Hope and Glory
TV Reality Shows Offer Rare 'Breath of Fresh Air'

By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, September 1, 2006; Page A01

BAGHDAD -- In the basement of the heavily guarded Babylon Hotel, on a low, black stage lit up like an operating room, contestant No. 65 was having a bad day. In the morning, Yasser Ibrahim, 22, had passed checkpoints and closed roads, armed soldiers and traffic jams, traveling two hours on a trip that normally takes 15 minutes.

When he arrived, he found dozens of young Iraqis, neatly dressed like him, lining up for a dream that has become ever so elusive in Iraq.

"Fame. I hope for fame," gushed Raghad Laith, 16, looking fabulous in a long, black dress, high-heeled shoes with dazzling rhinestones, red lipstick and green eye shadow. "This is a great chance to become a star."

If you thought Iraq was only a dire tableau of bloodshed and mayhem, take a closer look. Ibrahim, Laith and the others at the Babylon Hotel were auditioning for "Iraq Star," the country's version of "American Idol." It's one of a growing stream of made-in-Iraq reality television shows, produced under often-perilous conditions, that are being beamed across the Middle East.

More of this story here:

washingtonpost.com

Yeah... imagine the people of Iraq trying to have done this in back in the day of Saddam's regime... they probably would have been executed for even talking about this sort of venture of free enterprise!
Now... is modern democracy such a bad thing people?

Oh gawd. More war crimes!
What gross injustice will we next invoke upon these people?
< just kidding >

It is great that people are enjoying singing, but how exactly does that discount the pentagon report and the reports we have been hearing from the media about sectarian tensions rising?

I'm sure there were bright spots in the Vietnam war as well. It doesn't mean that the war was going well or that we should have been there.

LOL

Hell no it isn't (especially if a people of a country achieve it on their own). But to make it work you need an infrastructure that is secure. That isn't going to occur if what the pentagon report shows isn't handled properly. And one could argue it HAS occured because of thousands of tactical errors in the first place.

I think it does. This would not be happening if we had not gone in there. The people are free. The enemy is not the USA. The enemy is facist Islam. These people and millions of others want to have a good life. The ones preventing that are the terrorists.

If you had cancer, you'd go to a doctor and do whatever you could to have it removed. Would you blame the doctor for trying to make you well? Now if the doctor killed you, then you might have a gripe. If the cancer killed you, you couldn't blame the doctor. It's not the USA killing civilians, it's the Islamic fascists. Iraq has a cancer and it is facist Islam, not the US military.