Last weekend, along with Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), I completed my fifth trip to Iraq, and I am frustrated and worried. We are still risking the lives of our troops without giving them a realistic policy worthy of their sacrifices. To me, as a Vietnam veteran, that feels terribly familiar.
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.
BAGHDAD, April 21 -- Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said the ongoing increase of nearly 30,000 U.S. troops in the country has achieved "modest progress" but has also met with setbacks such as a rise in devastating suicide bombings and other problems that leave uncertain whether his counterinsurgency strategy will ultimately succeed.
Delaware senator and presidential candidate Joe Biden predicted Saturday that within six months, every one of his Democratic rivals would adopt his position on the war in Iraq.
As of Saturday, April 21, 2007, at least 3,319 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,691 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The White House search for a "war czar" caps a lengthy reshuffle that has placed pragmatists and critics of the Bush administration's early moves in Iraq in charge of managing a war that the U.S. feels it can't quit but can't quite win.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will begin a regional tour on Sunday to drum up support for next month's international conference in Egypt aimed at quelling the raging bloodshed in Iraq.
A look at important members of President Bush's new management team for the Iraq war:
The clock is ticking. Politically, the US military "surge" in Iraq has to start showing positive results soon -- and up to now the outcome is mixed.
A military investigation found that the Marine Corps chain of command in Iraq engaged in ?willful negligence? in failing to investigate an attack by marines that killed 24 unarmed Iraqis.