The Troop Surge Didn’t Work in Iraq & Won’t Work In Afghanistan

At least 127 people were killed today in Iraq and hundreds wounded in five powerful car bombing. The US still has 115,000 soldiers in Iraq, yet the security situation has not improved as Iraq seems to be, once again, on the brink of a civil war.

The first blast occurred at 10:25 AM local time with two other following in quick succession. Afterward, sporadic gunfire erupted as emergency vehicles rushed to the scene. According to security officials, two car bombs exploded near the labour and interior Ministries buildings. A suicide bomber, driving a car, also took aim at a police patrol in Dora, in Southern Baghdad, causing 15 deaths. Iraqiya TV reports that no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The bombings today come two days after the Iraqi parliament passed a new electoral law for the parliamentary elections scheduled on March 6, 2010. A growing numbers of Iraqi officials have expressed concern about a surge of attacks, aimed at destabilising the government before next year’s elections. Some Iraqi officials are worried that the security forces were “infiltrated”. The attacks today are definitely a blow to the US long term strategy in Iraq, the Iraqi security forces and Prime Minister Al-Maliki, who is running for re-election on a platform that he has “improved security across the country”. On Monday, 8 people were killed when a bomb exploded at a school in Baghdad, 6 of them were children.

Despite the fact that the US still has 115,000 soldiers in Iraq, attacks are still a daily part of life for Iraqis. The security is not only fragile, it is actually deteriorating. The US troop level is supposed to drop to 50,000 next year, with a complete withdrawal promised by the end of 2011. However, judging by the current situation in Iraq we should not expect the 2011 complete pull out deadline to be honored by the Obama administration. On Capitol Hill today, General McChrystal  argued that he felt confident in turning the tide and defeating the Taliban. What the American people should be asking their elected official is this: If the surge did not work in Iraq, which is arguably less problematic than Afghanistan, why would the Obama escalation work in Afghanistan?