Er--Success?

Reuters reports that: John Abizaid believes

"a further surge in violence is likely in Iraq after the June 30 return of self-governance and leading up to Iraqi elections, which could require the deployment of more American troops..."

Here are some of Abizaid's exact quotes:

"I would predict, and I think Rick (Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq) will agree with me, that the situation will become more violent even after sovereignty because it will remain unclear what's going to happen between the interim government and elections."

"So moving through the election period will be violent, and it could very well be more violent than we're seeing today. So it's possible that we might need more forces""

"So getting more international forces, getting a higher quality of Iraqi force, will help figure out where we stand."

As for the first two direct quotes, duh. What's happening in Iraq is a classic case of manuevering by various factions staking claims to power. You'd think that an administration obsessed with INVADING another country might consider this as a rational post-war act. But Team Bush doesn't think rationally. As Atrios noted yesterday, The Village Voice reported there's lot more faith than we realized in Bush's faith-based initiatives, including areas where you'd think faith might supplement intelligence, not the other way around.

As for what I'll call the quest for the Holy Grail quote, international forces and a 'higher quality' of Iraqi force have about as much chance of happening as I do of winning the lottery. We're in this one more or less on our own, and the pitiful numbers of Iraqi "security" personnel reflect the fact that the whole operation was bullshit from the moment Cheney gave the order.

June 30th is, what, about six weeks away. Something tells me this has "Mission Accomplished" all over it--in the same sense as the banner on the USS Lincoln last year.