I'm cautiously optomistic, not because ~21,000 is really a lot of extra troops but the fact they'll be embedding brigades with Iraqi divisions seems like a fairly good idea. There were a couple things that made my ears perk up and they weren't any of the "major" points as the talking heads were disecting the thing, they were:
1) Streamlining the rules of engagement for US forces, which are far too cumbersome at the moment. That didn't seem to get as much reaction as it should have.
2) Interdicting the supplies and insurgents filtering in from Syria and Iran, as well as degrading their support structure. That's an important step because right now in Anbar province there have been multiple reports of Marine units having the enemy "pull a VC" on them and scooting back over the border into Syria after what's left of them disengage. If they can shut down the infiltration/egress routes into Syria that would be extremely helpful.
Those 2 items there could be more important to improving the overall situation than 17,000 troops in Baghdad. The 4,000 extra in Anbar will be helpful as well because prior to that there was an idea to bring down Kurdish Peshmerga to bolster the allied troop strength there. While that would have made sense militarily, but politically it would have eroded some of the good support we're getting from the tribal leaders out there in Anbar who are slowly coming around.
The other reason for some cautious optomism was the new general in charge literally wrote the book on counterinsurgency combat. Some in the MSM were criticizing Bush because this plan goes against what some of the top generals in Iraq are saying they need, but the way I see it (and probably how Bush does) is if they aren't winning then their opinion is less important than it would seem at first glance. I mean if Lincoln would have kept listening to McClellan the Army of the Potomac wouldn't have moved out until 1880 or so...
Until the Iraqis want to start fighting though things aren't going to get better anytime soon. But honestly I think a lot of their reluctance lately has been precisely because of the talk of withdrawl over here; none of them want to be the last guy holding the bag when the Blackhawks lift out the last of our embassy staff. They've heard enough Vietnam analogies and history over the past few years to know what happens to places when the US Congress turns its back on a war.
__________________
|