So what’s the point of the surge, anyway?
From the inception, and constantly reiterated by President Bush, Defense Secretary Bob Gates, General David Petraeus and others, escalating the U.S. troop presence in Iraq is supposed to give Iraqi politicians the “breathing room” necessary to foster sectarian reconciliation. There’s just one problem: no reconciliation has materialized despite the surge. Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki’s coterie doesn’t expect reconciliation efforts in parliament to move forward in the foreseeable future.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=180681