Surging...

Bush Asks for More Troops, just like everyone knew he would. The question is whether Bush will take the handcuffing ROEs off the troops. He seems to suggest that he will.

"There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents. And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have."

There in is the problem. We can have as many troops as we want, but if they aren't allowed to take on the Iranian backed death squads like Sadr's than its not gonna matter. Bush seems to trust that Maliki will kick Sadr to the curb. I'm not so sure. The problem is that the Iraqi politicians will hedge their bets as long as they aren't sure about success. Politics in most of the world comes out of the barrel of a gun. So the goal will be to make Iraqi politicans comfortable that they can count on Iraqi Security Forces for their security, and until they are, they will court militas.

Our country has continued to have unrealistic expectations about how easy, or how long it should take to accomplish the process. That in no way alters the fact that the process is a necessity. Terrorism is fostered by failed states and rogue states, and they must be conforted, defeated, and transformed into functioning states with representive governments, or it will continue.