Delusions of Anbar

By Libby

Cernig is on this story so I'll just send you there for his excellent analysis on how the alleged success of Anbar is nothing more than smoke and mirrors, a point made clear by this interview in the UK's Times.

Read his whole post but here's a couple of key points.

Taken in concert with reports that other Sunni insurgent groups, including the 1920 Revolution Brigade, that have turned opportunist US ally for now are carving out lucrative protection rackets in their territories, extorting money from everyone who wants to do business there, and it's clear that the Anbar Awakening is anything but the happy pony that the Right wants everyone to buy.

Especially since the US military has been given these once-and-future-insurgents training and money to but more guns. The truth is that, in their eagerness to acclaim anything at all as "surge success" the panto kiddies on the Right haven't yet figured out that the next panto call is always "look behind you!"

And in the comment section, Carl points us to some historical context. This is a repeat of the same empty rhetoric and false promises of progress the White House made in Fallujah. The pact we made with insurgents there was supposed to turn that corner to victory over three years ago now.

Might be time to trot out the definition of insanity again.