Remember Iraq?

I'll try to do one post on my crippled PC before I head south to get a new one.

It would appear the Iraq is once again plummeting into chaos as yet another "milestone" proves to be meaningless. AP reports that 11 U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq on Thursday.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military said Friday that six more American troops died in the recent surge of violence in Iraq, bringing to 11 the number of U.S. troops slain on the same day.

While Attacks by suicide bombers killed as many as 130 people in Karbala and Ramadi on Thursday. Iraq's most powerful Shiite political faction to warned of retribution and indirectly blamed the United States for the bloodshed. The US commander on the ground, Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, warned that Iraq is Facing Hurdles.

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, Jan. 4 - The top American operational commander in Iraq has offered a sober assessment of the hurdles facing a new Iraqi government, voicing concerns that sectarian rivalries and incompetence could cripple major ministries and turn newly American-trained Iraqi security forces into militias for hire.

The commander, Lt. Gen. John R. Vines of the Army, warned in an interview on Wednesday that the development of the Defense and Interior Ministries that sustain Iraqi security forces lags behind the fielding and prowess of more than 220,000 Iraqi soldiers and police officers.

"The ability of the ministries to support them, to pay them, to resupply them, provide them with water, ammunition, spare parts and weapons is not as advanced as the competence of the forces in the field," General Vines said at his headquarters here outside of Baghdad, as a new wave of violence gripped Iraq this week. "We must make significant progress in that area before they can conduct independent operations."

General Vines cautioned that other important ministries, like oil and electricity, must also strengthen their operations for the security forces to succeed - and for Iraq to prosper politically and economically.

"The reason it's important to look at areas like governance and infrastructure is because oil is the lifeblood of Iraq," said General Vines, who commands the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C. "If they don't produce enough income to support their security forces, members of those forces could turn to ulterior purposes and could become militias or armed gangs."

As we have heard the officers on the ground don't see the situation the same way as those in the Pentagon.

According to interviews with several senior Army officers, who were granted anonymity because their bosses' discussions were confidential, General Casey wanted to build up operations along the border between Iraq and Syria, as well as the Euphrates River Valley, to make it harder for suicide bombers to infiltrate and explode themselves in Baghdad during the elections.

But General Vines and his field commanders said the center of gravity was Baghdad and its predominantly Sunni suburbs like Falluja, the officers said. General Vines wanted to position more forces there to increase the Sunni turnout, a major political goal of the Bush administration but also a means to help reduce the insurgency.

The situation in the middle east has been further destabilized by the death or imminent death of Ariel Sharon which will result in further political turmoil in Israel.

I somehow doubt that "spygate" is going to damage the Bush administration as much as the deteriorating situation in Iraq and the middle east. The culture of fear that the Bush administration has cultivated will help them with "spygate" but the failure of their Iraq policy will hurt.