surge update 1/6/8

In Baghdad, Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 5

BAGHDAD, Jan. 6 -- A suicide bomber detonated explosives in the middle of a raucous Iraqi Army Day celebration Sunday, killing at least five people including Iraqi soldiers who hurled themselves at the attacker to prevent further casualties, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

The bombing was the latest in a series of blasts that have rocked the capital in recent weeks after months of declining violence had led to a newfound sense of security in the capital.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/06/AR2008010600361_pf.html

MR. GIBSON: Would you have seen this kind of greater security in Iraq if we had followed your recommendations to pull the troops out last year?

Senator Obama.

SEN. OBAMA: Let me respond. I think the bar of success has become so low that we've lost perspective on what should be our long- term national interests. It was a mistake to go in from the start, and that's why I opposed this war from the start.

It has cost us upwards of $1 trillion. It may get close to 2 (trillion dollars). We have lost young men and women on the battlefield, and we have not made ourselves safer as a consequence.

Now, I had no doubt -- and I said at the time, when I opposed the surge, that given how wonderfully our troops perform, if we place 30,000 more troops in there, then we would see an improvement in the security situation and we would see a reduction in the violence. But understand, we started in 2006 with intolerable levels of violence and a dysfunctional government. We saw a spike in the violence, the surge reduced that violence, and we now are, two years later, back where we started two years ago. We have gone full circle at enormous cost to the American people.

Full transcript here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/us/politics/05text-ddebate.html?fta=y&pagewanted=all

:grr:

Thanks, spanone... :(