Posted on 08/26/2007 1:51:39 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
The surge of U.S. troops has produced pockets of relative security in a still-dangerous Iraq, Rep. Ellen Tauscher said Saturday in Baghdad, but has not led to a "political surge" of self-government and reconciliation.
"It is this conundrum of calamities, and I really think that at $330 million a day and 3,700 of our precious Americans fallen and tens of thousands devastatingly injured, there's nothing about what we have been able to produce with the surge that tells me there's a political surge in the offing that will cut the insurgency in half and lead to peace and stability for the Iraqis," she said.
She cited as an example al-Anbar province, where Sunni tribal leaders incensed at insurgents' Taliban-like religious crackdown have thrown their support to coalition forces, even as Sunni political leaders have walked away from participation in the central government. "It is a vexing, complicated, complex geometric problem. You take two steps backward and then you take five steps forward and then six steps backward," Tauscher said.
Tauscher, D-Alamo, chairwoman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee, is leading a bipartisan congressional delegation to gauge the progress in Iraq. With her on the trip are Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., who serves on the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, and Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., who serves on the Ways and Means and Budget committees.
Tauscher, in a telephone interview from Iraq, said the group met Saturday with the surge's architect, Gen. David Petraeus, and with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker.
"They obviously are advocates for the surge, they have a lot of data that shows more American troops on the ground, in those places where they are, create more stability," she said. "Not surprisingly, when you have the finest fighting force in the world and you add more of them, you get more security."
But those tactical advances aren't producing strategic progress, she said she told Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurdish politician. "He is somebody that we really think is a pretty savvy guy ... but I delivered him a pretty stiff assessment," she said.
Based on what she has seen and heard before and during this trip, "we really don't think that they have used the time (provided by the surge) wisely or productively," Tauscher said she told Salih. "I tried to be as frank and as fair as I could be but also to deliver the message that we're deeply disappointed" with the Iraqi government's lack of progress on vital issues such as sharing oil revenues with the Iraqi people and implementing legislation on de-Ba'athification reform, she said.
"Not surprisingly, he blamed a lot on the Sunnis and their inability to coalesce around a leader and give that leader empowerment to make decisions that will stick," she said. "He made a very impassioned plea not to abandon them, to stick with them. ... These are all very sobering arguments, but in the end I told him I didn't support the surge because I didn't see enough political activity toward reconciliation."
Tauscher said she was still planning to meet with the Iraqi national security adviser, with Kurdish and Sunni regional leaders, and with Deputy President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite, before flying out to Kuwait and then Washington.
A new, unclassified summary of a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq released Thursday notes "measurable but uneven improvements" regarding the security situation in Iraq, but questions Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ability to effect political reconciliation and unify Iraq.
Another Democrat who thinks she is a part of this administration.
She missed this report, I reckun .. :-)
Iraq leaders reach consensus on some benchmarks
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1886847/posts
First, that isn't true because we are securing some local Sunni allies even though the national government is stuck.
The national political situation will probably follow suit, but not on a "snap your fingers in Washington" timetable.
The leftism and partisanship of the democrat party has really hung us out to dry. What a disgrace.
What a delusional idiot!
I agree, It’s amazing what can get elected to Congre$$.
Now here’s a woman with her ear to the ground. Too bad she chose a place with a camel turd between her and the dirt.
The news is all good even in our press. Evidently Tuasher’s watch is still set for the Democrat lefturn time zone.
This line of 'even good Iraq news is bad news' that the Democrats insist on taking just to try to score political points is sickening beyond reason.
And another Rat who thinks that she’s an overnight military expert.
I was surprised to learn last week that illegal immigrants kill more people every week than that. It doesn’t minimise the soldiers sacrifice AT ALL, because they’ve made a brave and voluntary sacrifice in our place.
Car rental companies get their own representatives in California? In that case, what about the person from Hertz and National?
It must be very easy to write a verdict before hearing any facts, and it leads to less confusion that way.
It’s always looked to me as if being elected to Congress from a liberal district required that you be a talkative, delusional moron. No one of greater qualities need apply.
They seem to have a lot of disdain for the Democrats (well, I think the terrorists like them...)
This woman just reinforced what the Iraqis already knew. ;-)
White flag alert!
A weenie from the left....Sen Warner is a weenie from the right!
You are correct.
The campaign is already underway by the Dems/media. The US military surge is working, but the political situation is un-winnable. They are allowing the public to already have that ingrained in their heads that the surge has worked before General Petraeus has a chance to speak in September. By then his report will be old news, but the media will go into overdrive to reinforce that they have been telling us...that the politicians in Iraq have failed and it is un-winnable. Then, they will refer back to Bush’s ‘mistakes’, including going in in the first place. Then, they will play Cheney’s video from the early mid-nineties that show that it is an un-winnable political situation. It’s clear that the change in US strategy has been effective, but that will not stop the Dems/media on second to continue to damage the mission.
Elaine, honey, stick to the day care centers. Anything above ‘burpees’ is evidently well above your ability to comprehend.
What a pile of male bovine excrement!
1 The "surge is producing pockets of INsecurity.
2 the political situation is a lagging indicator.
...a complicated, complex geometric problem..." Tauscher, D-Alamo, chairwoman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee [said]...It's a geometric problem. And it's complex. And complicated. Looks like she forgot to mention that it will require a nuanced solution involving many outside parties, including those causing the bloodshed, like Iran and Syria. Thanks Ernest.
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