Blame and Run

Just a quick mid-week post to the blog...

Has anyone else noticed the onslaught of news stories this week touting the success of the surge in bringing down violence in Iraq but the failure of those darn Iraqi politicians to take advantage of this increase in security that our hard work has brought about?

Did we really expect that a month or two of decreases in the daily death rate from mind-numbingly appalling to simply dreadful would just undo everything that's gone wrong over there? Remember, it was just in September that many people doubted the wisdom of the surge because the Iraqi civilian death rate was going up, not down! So now, with a month of reduced violence, all of a sudden the politicians should trust each other? Not only trust each other, but somehow figure out how to resolve some pretty major issues? C'mon, think of your office politics.... How realistic are we being here?

The problem is two-fold. First, we are big on instant gratification; unfortunately, counter insurgency, building trust, negotiating solutions - none of those happen quickly. Second, there is so much "news" out there few of us remember that it was only two months ago that the death rate was spiraling out of control.

If you think we should leave, fine. If you think we should stay, fine. We don't claim to know what the best course of action is. But if we do leave, putting sole blame on the Iraqis for not being able to resolve the mess we largely created (or at least stirred up) is dishonest and does us no credit.