Pentagon Issues New Edition of "Measuring Security and Stability in Iraq"

Though it is not yet available on defenselink.mil, the DOD has released the latest version of its congressionally mandated progress report "Measuring Security and Stability in Iraq".

All that good news that Donald Rumsfeld complains that the U.S. media ignores is overshadowed in the Pentagon report by some revealing statistics.

Iraqi casualties soared by more than 50 percent during the roughly three-month period ending in early August, the product of spiraling sectarian clashes and a Sunni-based insurgency that remains "potent and viable," the Pentagon noted today in an comprehensive assessment of security in Iraq.

In a grim 63-page report, the Pentagon chronicled bad news on a variety of fronts. One telling indicator was the number of weekly attacks, which reached an all-time high in July. ...

The Pentagon report on "Measuring Security and Stability in Iraq" is mandated by Congress and issued quarterly. It covers a broad range of subjects, ranging from the economy to public attitudes to the training of Iraqi security forces.

This time, the study has been the focus of special interest because of increasing fears that Iraq is sliding into civil war. And its grimmer notes, echoing recent Congressional testimony by military commanders, come at a time when President Bush and members of his cabinet have been trying to present a strong case in support of the war, in the face of vehement criticism from Democrats.

Addressing that scenario, the report notes: "Conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq, especially in and around Baghdad, and concern about civil war within the Iraqi population has increased in recent months."

As a consequence of the rising violence, the number of Iraqi casualties -- civilian and well as military -- has jumped to almost 120 a day. Further, the confidence of Iraqis in the future has diminished, according to public opinion surveys cited in the Pentagon report. Still, the study asserts that the fighting in Iraq does not meet the "strict" legal definition of a civil war.

The assessment provides bad news on a variety of fronts.

It said that Al Qaeda is active despite the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, because of the group's "cellular structure," that the Sunni insurgency is strong and that militias are undiminished.

The Pentagon distributed the report on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend, a common time for government officials to put out bad news. A Pentagon officials denied that this was the intent and said the report was issued when it completed.

This report will provide excellent ammo for the necessary discrediting of the kook who heads the Defense Department:

Under assault from Republicans on issues of national security, congressional Democrats are planning to push for a vote of no confidence in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld this month as part of a broad effort to stay on the offensive ahead of the November midterm elections.

In Rumsfeld, Democrats believe they have found both a useful antagonist and a stand-in for President Bush and what they see as his blunders in Iraq. This week, Democrats interpreted a speech of his as equating critics of the war in Iraq to appeasers of Adolf Hitler, an interpretation that Pentagon spokesman Eric Ruff disputed. But Democrats said the hyperbolic attack would backfire. ...

But Democrats -- and some Republicans -- say a debate on Rumsfeld's tenure at the Pentagon will present a quandary to embattled GOP incumbents in districts that have turned solidly against the war.

"We are approaching 2,700 dead Americans, 20,000 wounded, many of them missing eyes, missing limbs, facing paralysis," said Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.). "They want to debate that; we're happy to debate that."

There are "known knowns" and "known unknowns", and there are absolute certainties as well.

Such as the fact that Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense puts a public face on a singularly American form of fascism that has been revealed to the world by the imprudent actions of the Bush administration.

The real owners of the country hate when their game is exposed to the clear light of public scrutiny by rash and careless actors.

When they got fed up with Nixon, they had no problem consigning him to the dustheap in 1974.

The Bush regime has less to fear at this point from Democratic voters and public opinion than from the harsh judgment of the puppetmasters who installed them in the first place.