Pres. Bush wants our soldiers to fight Iraq's civil war with them. Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has a vested interest in seeing the numbers of our soldiers fighting his battles grow, not decrease. A very large number of Iraqi's believe a lot of the violence is due to America's presence in Iraq. If, however, our presence is reduced, then al-Maliki becomes the person to blame for violence, not the Americans.
This is why the Prime Minister is quoted in the NY Times as saying: "The security plan has been a dazzling success during its first days." But this "success" which Bush and al-Maliki refer to, is anything but success. When the police launch a raid on a criminal gang only to find the gang has left the premises to whereabouts unknown, do we call that a successful raid?
