Yet another new plan for Iraq

By Libby

It's a weighty tome, with "more than 20 annexes" but the only thing new about it is it admits the so-called surge was a really a plan for long term escalation.

The overarching aim of the new plan, which sets goals for the end of this year and the end of 2008, is more political than military: to negotiate settlements between warring factions in Iraq from the national level down to the local level. In essence, it is as much about the political deals needed to defuse a civil war as about the military operations aimed at quelling a complex insurgency, said officials with knowledge of the plan.

Excuse me for remembering but wasn't that also the purported goals of the current surge plan? And you have to love this part. They're no longer planning to "clear, hold and build." The sequential thing wasn't really working out for them so they're now planning to protect, cajole and organize a government coup simultaneously. Even worse, the whole plan still hinges on empowering Maliki against "abusive" sectarians in power.

I don't know about you but it sounds like the same load of crapola and wishful thinking to me. And I am the only one who thinks every "new" plan sounds worse than the last?