Is the surge working? It’s complicated.
This morning, I interviewed the chief of police for western Baghdad, a one-star general named Saleh Alany. General Saleh, as he’s known to the American military police who partner with him, is a hard man, a former Republican Guard officer who parts his hair severely and equates democracy with chaos. He had just wrapped up an extended discourse about how Iraqis needed a refresher course in how to obey authority with some optimistic notes about security returning to Baghdad when a massive boom erupted. Within moments, Saleh’s men called him with a report: an Iraqi Army checkpoint less than a kilometer away had been hit with an RPG.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=181284