Golly! Is this the SURGIEST SURGE EVER, or what?

Analysis: Iraq Surge May Be Extended

by ROBERT BURNS | AP | April 21, 2007 10:15 AM EST

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is laying the groundwork to extend the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq. At the same time, the administration is warning Iraqi leaders that the boost in forces could be reversed if political reconciliation is not evident by summer.

This approach underscores the central difficulty facing President Bush.
If political progress is not possible in the relatively short term, then the justification for sending thousands more U.S. troops to Baghdad -- and accepting the rising U.S. combat death toll that has resulted -- will disappear. That in turn would put even more pressure on Bush to yield to the Democratic-led push to wind down the war in coming months.

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The idea of the troop increase, originally billed by the administration as a temporary "surge," is not to defeat the insurgency. That is not thought possible in the near term. The purpose is to contain the violence -- in particular, the sect-on-sect killings in Baghdad -- long enough to create an environment in which Iraqi political leaders can move toward conciliation and ordinary Iraqis are persuaded of a viable future.

So far the results are mixed, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this week during a visit to Iraq that he wants to see faster political progress by the Iraqis.