NYT: Baghdad’s Chaos Raises Questions on U.S. Plan [View All]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/world/middleeast/06baghdad.html?hp&ex=1154836800&en=afe6256fba601d6f&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Baghdad’s Chaos Raises Questions on U.S. Plan
By DEXTER FILKINS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 5 — Over the past year, as American commanders pushed Iraqi forces to take over responsibility for this violent capital, Baghdad became a markedly more dangerous place.

Now the Americans are being forced to call in more of their own troops to bring the city under control.

The failure of the Iraqis to halt the slide into chaos in Baghdad undercuts the central premise of the American project here: that Iraqi forces can be trained and equipped to secure their own country, allowing the Americans to go home.

A review of previously unreleased statistics on American and Iraqi patrols suggests that as Americans handed over responsibilities to the Iraqis, violence in Baghdad increased.

...

Thirteen months ago, Baghdad had about 19 daily violent events, like killings. Today, the daily average is 25 — an increase of more than 30 percent. Many of these attacks cause more than one death; some cause many more, like the rampage by Shiite gunmen in western Baghdad last month that left as many as 40 people dead.

On Thursday in Washington, senior American military commanders pointedly warned that Iraq was heading toward civil war.

To stop the slide, the United States has decided to double the number of American troops in the city, to about 14,200 from about 7,200.

...

The latest exit strategy never did make much sense. After Rummy lost the war by not sending in enough troops to secure the country, we've been trying to hand the war off to "someone else." But the international community didn't step forward to provide troops, and we had no more to send. We turned to the only other source for troops, the Iraqis themselves. We would train a new security force and hand the war off to them. Only that is failing too.

There's no way out.