Virtually without fanfare, the Bush administration has reprogrammed some $3.5 billion in aid funds to Iraq in ways that mark a fundamental shift in its strategy in Iraq, and a recognition that much of the U.S. effort during the first year of occupation was a failure.
Tell me again why anyone would want this administration back in office for another four years.
Update: This, however, is not an analysis:
A huge car bomb ripped through a crowded market near a Baghdad police headquarters Tuesday, killing 47 people and wounding more than 110 in the deadliest single attack in Iraq's capital in six months.
Neither is this:
Fierce guerrilla attacks in Iraq and U.S. assaults on rebel bastions have unleashed a new wave of bloodshed that threatens to discredit the interim government and undermine prospects for fair elections in January.
Analysts said the U.S. military drive might simply alienate more Iraqis, without eliminating insurgents who this month pushed the American death toll in the Iraq war beyond 1,000.
"Mere force is not enough to calm the situation. You need wisdom and vision, not just muscles," said Ghassan al-Attiyah, director of the Iraq Foundation for Democracy and Development.
With elections for a national parliament only four months away, there is no calm in sight. Instead guerrillas have stepped up attacks. Kidnappings have driven most foreigners out of Iraq.
So much for our "War" President.
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