Happy Birthday Surge

In hindsight, I have to say that perhaps referring to Iraq as 'hell' in my previous post was not the kindest thing to do. Granted, it does get pretty d--n hot there in the summer, but for millions of people, it is home. And yet, so often in the past year since Bush announced the surge, it's seemed like political reconciliation would only come about when you-know-where-froze over. Now, I'm not saying that's what happened, but it does seem awfully coincidental that on the very day that snow fell for the first time in decades, the Sunni and Shiite MPs in the Shiite led government finally reached an agreement to allow ex-officials of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to return to public life. Update 1/15/07 - The agreement may not be as good as first anticipated. See NY Times editorial In search of answers.

Ok, enough snarkiness. It's hard to believe it's been a year since Bush decided to ignore the Iraq Study Group report and send a "surge" of 30,000 extra troops , plus or minus a couple thousand into Iraq. One year since all those emails and phone calls started coming in offering Ed 'excellent opportunities' in Iraq. One year since we realized that if he wasn't going to get out of the Guard, he may as well go over. And here we are, almost 3/4 of the way done with Ed's deployment (assuming his tour isn't extended). Time sure does fly...I wouldn't say when you're having fun, but certainly when there is a lot going on.

Speaking of a lot going on, there isn't much to update on how Ed is doing Iraq. He's still working long days and his emails are few and brief. The army has changed his schedule again (this would be the fourth time in five weeks), so he also continues to be sleep deprived. But, on the positive side, he's not being shot at (at least too often). And he can always sleep for a week or two when he gets home.

ps - wondering how things are in Iraq and if the surge is working? The Dec. 13th issue of The Economist does a good job examining the situation in its article, Can a lull be turned into a real peace?