Lionel: The reasons the "Surge" worked, which it hasn't, is not due to just the addition of US troops, but to several factors, some of which are:

- Millions of Iraqis dead
- Millions of Iraqi refugees in other countries. Of the 5 million Iraqis who fled their homes in the last five years, only 30,000 have returned (Now this is what I call sucess).
- Millions of Iraqi refugees ethnically cleansed from their homes and neighborhoods (resulting in Baghdad being divided and segregated into Sunni and Shia no-go areas)
- Cement barriers walling off streets and neighborhoods
- $300.00 per month to bribe former Sunni guerrillas/insurgents and other groups not to shoot at our soldiers
- Muqtada Al-Sadr's Mehdi militia's truce brokered by Iran
- Iranian support for Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki

One important thing, how can anyone discuss Iraq without mentioning what is happening to the Iraqi people?

Why don't progressive/liberal/left talk-show hosts talk about this?

Sammy Williams
williams2735@sbcglobal.net