Bush’s new plan is the same as the old plan

Bush’s new plan is the same as the old plan
By: Logan Murphy @ 1:15 PM - PDT

Via SFGate.com:

The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday.The little-noticed second surge, designed to reinforce U.S. troops in Iraq, is being executed by sending more combat brigades and extending tours of duty for troops already there.

TSeparately, when additional support troops are included in this second troop increase, the total number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase from 162,000 now to more than 200,000 — a record-high number — by the end of the year. Read more…

Sam Rosenfeld : "Which is to say, the new plan consists of nothing that we haven't already been attempting for the last several years, and nothing that in any way addresses the underlying political dynamics that are fuelling the sectarian conflict. In this op-ed genre, there is always — always — "a bipartisan path out of this impasse," no matter what that "impasse" may be, no matter how many years it has remained, and no matter how many thousands of people have been killed as a result of it."…read on

John Amato: Lift up your hands and shout: Bipartisan! Forget timetables and benchmarks, there's too much work left to be done in Iraq; like the building of permanent bases and the gargantuan U.S. embassy and of course the oil sharing agreements have yet to be approved or signed by the Iraqi Parliament. Time to contact your representatives…

UPDATE: (Nicole) David Ignatius of WaPo muses on post-"surge" options, but Brad at Sadly, No! points out some flaws in the logic.