In spite of the hype, the "surge" didn't do fuckall.

The entire point of the escalation was to create breathing room for political changes to happen in Iraq...we sent over a few thousand more troops, cracked down on the fighting, created the space...and nothing happened with it.

The "surge" wasn't the end all, be all...it was a tool to do some actual good, and that actual good didn't materialize at all.

What good is the escalation when the very goal it was supposed to reach didn't even glimmer on the horizon?

We could send 500,000 more troops over there, put a dude with a gun every ten feet on every road, and shoot the hell out of anyone who steps out of line...and unless the political things change over there and they start getting on track to have a country without us running it for them as an occupying force, it won't matter one single little bit. It will just be more American money, and more American lives spent for no reason whatsoever.

When the escalation was being sold to us, it was just like virtually every other product in Iraq they've been trying to sell us...here's what we'll do, and here's what we'll get!...only, just like the others, we did it just fine, and didn't get the happy ending.

Fish on...

Todd