Making Good Progress

Steve Benen catches Tim Russert figuring out that John McCain's been telling him that we've ben making progress in Iraq for four solid years. A little slow on the uptake, that guy, but he gets it.



(Fig. 4-1. Chart of progress in Iraq, provided by McCain for President)

Anyway, let's take a look at the latest progress in this endlessly forward-moving country, shall we?

5 troops were killed and 3 are still missing in an attack in the "Triangle of Death" south of Baghdad. Actually, let's start with the fact that the country has a "triangle of death." This attack was another example of the fact that, while the "surge" focuses on Baghdad, the areas just outside the capital are becoming more violent as insurgents fan out there. In Diyala province, one such area, the commanding general has had enough:

The commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq said Friday that he did not have enough troops to deal with the escalating violence in Iraq's Diyala province, an unusually frank assertion for a top officer and a sign that American military officials might be starting to offer more candid and blunt assessments of the war.

Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. "Randy" Mixon also said that the Iraqi government had failed to help the situation in the restive province and that it has been a hindrance at times by failing to support local army and police forces. Diyala borders Baghdad on the east, and violence in the province has grown as U.S. troop levels have been bolstered in the capital.

In addition, the one "success story" of the surge, stopping violence in the capital, has begun to fall apart:

Mixon's call for help coincides with a rise in the number of sectarian death squad killings in Baghdad. U.S. officials had heralded an earlier decline in such deaths as a sign of the success of the security clampdown in the capital that began Feb. 13.

Iraq's Interior Ministry said 234 people — men whose bodies were found throughout the capital — died at the hands of death squads in the first 11 days of May, compared with 137 in the same period of April. The tally so far for May is more than half the total for all of April, when 440 bodies were found. That was a decline from previous months.

The other success story, that Sunnis have begun to fight back against Al Qaeda fighters in Al Anbar, is incoherent when coupled with the claim that "if we leave Iraq, it will become a haven for terrorists." Clearly, the Sunnis in Al Anbar are standing up and won't allow a handful of foreign fighters to take over their country. Sounds to me like if we STAY, giving insurgents a target, we enable a haven for terrorists.

It's gotten so desperate that the US will finally break down and talk to Iran announcing this just days after Dick Cheney threatened the Islamic Republic on the deck of a naval carrier.

TEHRAN, Iran - The U.S. and Iran said Sunday they will hold upcoming talks in Baghdad about improving Iraq's security — a historic political turnabout for the two countries with the most influence over Iraq's future [...]

"The purpose is to try to make sure that the Iranians play a productive role in Iraq," said Gordon Johndroe, the White House's National Security Council spokesman.

Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, also confirmed the upcoming talks, saying the vice president supports the move as long as they focus solely on Iraq.

Iran agreed to the talks "after consultation with Iraqi officials, in order to lessen the pain of the Iraqi people, support the Iraqi government and establish security and peace in Iraq," the state-run news agency, IRNA, quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini as saying.

I don't think anyone expects much good to come out of those talks if they are beginning in such bad faith. The truth is that we need negotiation but not with these negotiators. It's another indicator that even the progress in Iraq isn't particularly progressive.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, the Iraqi government (you know, the Parliament that voted for US troops to leave Iraq) isn't too interested in passing an oil law, either, though the more I look at that I'm compelled to think that it's good news.