“This Is Going To Be Difficult”

These were words used by Indiana Senator Evan Bayh who is also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee to describe the United States’ success in the war in Iraq. He believes the elections can take place and need to take place by the end of January. The election is crucial as it is instrumental to the initial stages of handing control of Iraq back to the government of Iraq. The insurgency has increased their attacks as the time draws nearer to the elections. The insurgents believe that the Iraqi government is a “puppet” to the U.S. and that their own people, Iraqis, who have signed up to be policemen are also part of this puppeteer idea. The problem is that, instead of embracing the possibility of having their land back, their jobs back, their freedom to choose a person to run their own government… they’re killing their own people in these jobs and killing their ability to get control of everything sooner. By acting like a child throwing a tantrum because he was told to clean his room, they’re only heaping more trouble onto their own heads. The irony of assumptions.

Hindsight is 20/20 “they” say (whoever “they” is) and here are Senator Bayh’s hindsights:

[Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Indiana Senator Evan] Bayh said the United States made "tragic" mistakes -- insufficient troop levels, dismissing Iraqis with ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and disbanding the Iraqi army -- that fueled the insurgency and continue to make security unstable weeks before the Jan. 30 elections.
…
"One assessment we received is things would be 100 percent better today if we had not sent home all the leaders of the Iraqi armed forces," said Bayh, who earlier this year was forced to cancel a trip to Iraq because of security concerns.

The Indy Star has the story from the Star Washington Bureau here.

New Zealand has the news on the insurgents attacking a police convoy here.