He [Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki] also announced the creation of 25,000 jobs in Basra and the spending of US $100 million to improve services in the city, Iraq's second largest.There's another clear example of how we are really 'winning' the surge.
And also, here's a bit of testimony from General William Odom, who is a 'soldier's General', not a sycophant who only cares about getting another star. John McCain and other ignorant wingnuts would do themselves, and the country, a huge favor by listening to men like Odom.
"The Sunnis welcomed anyone who would help them kill Americans, including al Qaeda. The concern we hear the president and his aides express about a residual base left for al Qaeda if we withdraw is utter nonsense. The Sunnis will soon destroy al Qaeda if we leave Iraq. The Kurds do not allow them in their region, and the Shiites, like the Iranians, detest al Qaeda. To understand why, one need only take note of the al Qaeda public diplomacy campaign over the past year or so on internet blogs. They implore the United States to bomb and invade Iran and destroy this apostate Shiite regime. As an aside, it gives me pause to learn that our vice president and some members of the Senate are aligned with al Qaeda on spreading the war to Iran.We need real leadership. Leadership that pulls us out of this mess instead of spending up to 100 years acting more like men buying whores than men 'fighting' a war.
Let me emphasize that our new Sunni friends insist on being paid for their loyalty. I have heard, for example, a rough estimate that the cost in one area of about 100 square kilometers is $250,000 per day. And periodically they threaten to defect unless their fees are increased. You might want to find out the total costs for these deals forecasted for the next several years, because they are not small and they do not promise to end." -- and a lot more ...
