Senate report says Iraq is at critical juncture

[unhappycamper]

Gen. Lloyd James Austin III, commanding general of United States Forces in Iraq, testifies before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about the challenging transition to a civilian mission in Iraq.


Senate report says Iraq is at critical juncture
By LARA JAKES
Associated Press

BAGHDAD -- American diplomats and other mission employees may not be safe in Iraq if the U.S. military leaves the volatile country at the end of the year as planned, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The report by the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee puts new pressure on a delicate diplomacy between Washington and Baghdad to decide what future role American troops will have in Iraq - if one at all - before they start withdrawing this summer.

At least 159 Iraqi citizens and 100 police and soldiers were killed in insurgent attacks in January - the deadliest month for Iraq since September, according to data released Tuesday by security and health ministry officials in Baghdad.

~snip~

"The situation in Iraq is at a critical juncture," concluded the report, issued a few hours before Ambassador to Iraq James F. Jeffrey and Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of the U.S. military in Iraq, appear before the Democrat-led Senate panel.

"Terrorist and insurgent groups are less active but still adept, the Iraqi army continues to develop but is not yet capable of deterring regional actors, and strong ethnic tensions remain along Iraq's disputed internal boundaries," the report said. "Although a government has finally been formed, it remains to be seen how cohesive and stable it will be."

[KG]

1. in other words, it's still the clusterfuck it's been since the day the US marched in....

thank you for that, gen. obvious. :eyes: