Forget the Troops... Just Arm the Sunnis Instead!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/world/middleeast/11iraq.html?em&ex=1181707200&en=a65e5d04adc68413&ei=5087%0A

In the cited article, it states that since the “four-month-old increase in American troops… only modest success” has been shown “in curbing insurgent attacks.” This seems to be an extraordinarily generous statement, if not one that is flatly inaccurate. The number of casualties among both civilian and military personnel has sharply increased since ‘the surge’ and there is certainly no sign of it decreasing or leveling off. So why might this be the case? I might argue that ‘the surge’ has incited so much more violence and general devastation because there are now considerable more American soldiers to target!

So this article goes on to outline the military plan to arm Sunnis to do battle with Al Qaeda… First thing that came to mind is just how admittedly risky this strategy is, especially considering the Sunnis have “promised” to fight. Frankly, I’m surprised it never occurred to anyone that the Sunnis may have crossed their fingers behind their backs when they made said promise!!! The second thing that came to mind is the irony in how the United States’ military can afford to fully arm Sunni Iraqis but can barely afford to arm its own troops. Now I am by no stretch of the imagination a military commander, strategist, historian, etc. thus I have no alternate idea, but this plan of action is just more of the same whimsical hooey that got us into this mess in the first place! Considering all the falsehoods that the American people were led to believe, how do we really know that “successful tests” were actually executed in Anbar Province? I’m afraid the parties concerned, especially the White House, have lost such a substantial amount of credibility that absolutely nothing can be taken at face value. But who cares about all that jazz… can you believe nothing happened in The Sopranos series finale?!