This is not really a surprise, but President Bush is expected to announce the "surge" of troops to Iraq in a speech tonight. I haven't written about this surge because I've been very tentative about it. 20,000 additional troops, in and of themselves, aren't going to accomplish much. With an achievable goal, tactics to achieve that goal(s), and the operational freedom to use those tactics, they may just make some difference. Unfortunately, it is really tough to tell if their presence is going to be more of the same or if it signals an operational change in Iraq.
And about the situation in Iraq. My former co-blogger Col. Ollie made what I thought was an interesting point today. What is happening in Iraq, the violence between sects, is not terribly unusual in that part of the world today. We may well never fully quell it. But that doesn't mean that Iraq cannot be a functional nation. It does increase the risk of things going horribly wrong in Iraq, no question about that. But if a complete end to the violence is the goal, it might be a goal that cannot be met in the free and open society we've tried to create.
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