Since Escalation Began, Baghdad is “More Violent and Chaotic Than Ever.” Less than two weeks ago, one reporter in Baghdad said, “Sectarian attacks in Baghdad have also increased back to pre-surge levels,” with hundreds of Iraqis killed in insurgent and sectarian attacks in the Capital alone each week. After nearly 200 people were killed in a single day last month, another columnist wrote, “Nine weeks into the ‘surge,’ Baghdad is more violent and chaotic than ever.” [NPR, “Morning Edition,” 4/19/07; UPI, 4/19/07]
Iraqi Government Hasn’t Passed Legislation on Benchmarks (But Is Planning a Two-Month Vacation.) More than two months after the new plan went into effect, “there has been little or no progress in achieving three key political benchmarks set by the Bush administration: new laws governing the sharing of Iraq’s oil resources and allowing many former members of the banned Baath Party to return to their jobs, and amendments to Iraq’s constitution.” Although the Iraqi government has yet to adopt bills aimed at easing sectarian violence and these other benchmarks, they are planning on taking their summer recess as scheduled in July and August. [Los Angeles Times, 4/21/07; Washington Post, 4/26/07]
Too bad Bush isn’t in any position to criticize on the subject of extended vacations by government leaders.
LMAO. That tragically funny.