The first "benchmark" expected of the Iraqi gov't. has been missed.

[WilliamPitt]

The Iraqi government appears to have failed to achieve the very first concrete benchmark that White House officials announced as part of the new combined US-Iraqi security push in Baghdad.

At a White House briefing on January 10 by two anonymous senior administration officials, one made this startlingly verifiable promise to a press corps highly skeptical of the administration's amorphous benchmarks for Iraq:

"SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, here's -- but you're going to have to -- you're going to have some opportunities to judge very quickly. The Iraqis are going to have three brigades within Baghdad within a little more than a month. They have committed to trying to get one brigade in, I think, by the first of February, and two more by the 15th. . . .

"So people are going to be able to see pretty quickly that the Iraqis are or are not stepping up. And that provides the ability to judge."

Alright, so now it's past the first of the month, and how's it going?

Steven R. Hurst reported on Thursday (Feb. 1) for the Associated Press: "Local commanders. . . . said only about 2,000 of the additional troops had reached Baghdad or were nearby. . . .

"An Iraqi army brigade from Irbil, about 3,000 men in principle, will have at most 1,500 men when it finally arrives in Baghdad. The commander says 95 percent of the men don't speak Arabic. A brigade from Sulaimaniyah, also in the Kurdish north, has reached the Muthana Airport in central Baghdad, but it is only 1,000-men strong, not the expected 3,000."

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Smacks of another 'Snowjob'

Sr. Admin Official :eyes: Just put his/her name in print, ferchristsake!!!!!

[bigtree]

2. Maliki's Ordered the Iraqi Military to Speed Up

:rofl:

Maliki Orders Iraqi Military to Speed Up Security Crackdown
By VOA News
06 February 2007
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-02-06-voa47.cfm

[EFerrari]

3. Sometimes I think this war doesn't exist as a real war. It's just a big

diversion. "Look over there while we steal you and them blind." I don't mean that people aren't dying or being terribly hurt or destroyed. And I don't mean that "battle" isn't engaged and so on. It has all the outward trappings of a real war. But the main objective of the Iraq war is to enrich Bush cronies and the rest of it is not actually important to this misAdministration.

And that's important because that disregard skews every decision that is made down the line.

/typo

[spanone]

4. bush* will lower the threshold and demand less and call it more....

This whole scenario is a farce. I really don't think that truth matters one iota to the criminals in charge. IMO

I'm sure we'll hear about this on tonight's news coverage.:sarcasm:

[merh]

5. Who can trust Maliki?

U.S. military: Iraqi lawmaker is U.S. Embassy bomber

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A man sentenced to death in Kuwait for the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies now sits in Iraq's parliament as a member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ruling coalition, according to U.S. military intelligence.

Jamal Jafaar Mohammed's seat in parliament gives him immunity from prosecution. Washington says he supports Shiite insurgents and acts as an Iranian agent in Iraq.

-snip-

more at http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/05/iraq.lawmaker/index.html

This makes no sense to me

[Jacobin]

6. This of course is an endless game

He'll keep moving the target because 'we can't afford to lose' in IraqNam. This will be punted to the next president to deal with, and then blame shall surround he/she who ends it.

[sabra]

7. Iraqi paper: participants will receive bonuses “to guarantee their participation”

http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/1220/Iraqi_Papers_Tues_Refugees_In_Syria_Threatened

<snip>

In its Iraqi edition, Az-Zaman said that the Iraqi forces participating in the Baghdad Security Plan will receive bonuses “to guarantee their participation” in the operation. Quoting an American colonel, the daily said that one of the hurdles to previous operations was the reluctance of Iraqi soldiers -- who do not originate in Baghdad -- to serve in remote areas. In order to alleviate this issue, the army will be paying all non-Baghdadi soldiers a special bonus to compensate for their relocation.

Az-Zaman also said that the operational headquarters will be directed by an Iraqi brigadier who had fought against the American army in the Second Gulf War (1991). American sources said that, despite having an Iraqi in charge, American soldiers will not be receiving orders from Iraqi officers; there was no explanation as to how that would be possible.

[rpgamerd00d]

8. This should be mailed to Pelosi/Reid

[damntexdem]

9. So the Iraqi government has failed its first test:

OK, Dubya, time to break out a Medal of Freedom! ;-)

[DemReadingDU]

10. morning kick

[POAS]

11. Force levels of Brigades can vary

so even though the expectation was for each brigade to be 3000 strong levels as low a 1500 could still legitimately be considered a Brigade.

What bothers me more than the levels is the reported composition. Kurdish units guarding the airport in Sunni Baghdad and another unit, also from the Kurdish north, with only 5% arabic speakers. This won't sit well with either Sunni or Shiite and smacks of desperation to meet the benchmarks.

[IWantAChange]

12. a few soldiers finally show up - 95% of one group don't speak Arabic - others appear to be Kurds -

Sounds to me like GeorgieBoy has managed to transfer Repug BizzaroWorld to Iraq. We now have a bit of a concentration inside Baghdad of all the parties that despise one another - thank goodness we have a Republican Administration in charge or I'd REALLLLLY be concerned.

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: