I hope she’s right. By the end of October we will know if she is as that will be a little more than a month into the new Iraqi constitution. Mind you Dick Cheney said the insurgency was dying back in May (comments echoed by Gupshups own myvoice) this has been proven wrong. In my opinion the next 2.5 months are the most critical period since the fall of Saddam.
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WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the insurgency in Iraq is losing steam as a political force, even as Democratic congressmen warned Sunday that violence jeopardizes plans for withdrawing some troops.
Rice, in an article appearing on Time magazine’s Web site, argued against viewing the war solely through the rising death toll. More than 1,820 American troops have died in Iraq, at least 30 of them in the last week.
“It’s a lot easier to see the violence and suicide bombing than to see the rather quiet political progress that’s going on in parallel,” Rice said.
“If you think about how to defeat an insurgency, you defeat it not just militarily but politically,” she wrote, adding that she believes the insurgents are “losing steam” politically.
Appearing on Sunday news shows, Democratic lawmakers expressed misgivings about plans for withdrawing some troops from Iraq.
Pentagon officials have been planning recently for a gradual withdrawal beginning early next year on condition that Iraqi political goals were met and the insurgency was under control. Iraqi officials are working toward drafting a constitution by Aug. 15.
A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), said Americans should prepare to be involved with Iraq for a long time.
“The insurgents are thinking in terms of years. It took 10 years in Afghanistan to evict the Soviets. We’re thinking in terms of months, and that causes problems,” Reed said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.
