Remember the War?

There appears to be further evidence that the so-called "surge" might just be moving the trouble from Baghdad and the larger cities of Iraq to outlying areas, rather than actually ending the war. In January, there was a rise in the number of American service members killed. This is from McClatchy News Service:

"A total of 3,942 American service members have been killed in Iraq as of Thursday, according to icasualties.org, an independent Web site that tracks the statistics.

U.S. officials in Iraq said the death toll had risen because the military was targeting armed groups that had been driven out of Baghdad and Al-Anbar by the increase in American troops.

In January, the military launched a major offensive in northeastern Diyala province, where nine service members were killed. In addition, the United States moved troops to the northwestern Ninevah province, which has become an Al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold. Seven service members were killed there in January, compared with four in December.

The fact that more Americans have been killed in those provinces has some fretting that the United States is fighting another round of "whack-a-mole," a term that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., once used to describe chasing insurgents and terrorists from one part of Iraq to another."

How long will it take for Republicans to figure out that there needs to be a political solution to the war? Sending more good young people to die in an endless loop of tragedy does nothing, except perhaps make Muslims and others around the world hate America even more. Like mischievous children, the insurgents want us to chase them - for the attention it brings to their cause. Like an inexperienced babysitter, the Chimp fell for this behavior in 2003. Perhaps we should elect some actual ADULTS next time, eh?

Stop the war. Elect Democrats.



PS: The Left Curve poll to determine the Democratic nominee has closed. Final results: Obama 10; Clinton 5; Edwards 2. Thanks to everyone for your participation...