controlling iraq is the key to controlling the middle east; controlling baghdad is the key to controlling iraq; controlling the green zone is the key to controlling the red zone: is this the direction the neo-cons suggested we would be moving?

time for some optimism from operation iraqi freedom, the official website of multinational force--iraq:

• This is a decisive period in the country, Army Gen. John Abizaid told National Public Radio in a recent interview. "First and foremost we have to stabilize the situation in Baghdad before we need to get overly focused on leaving," Abizaid said. (Controlling security in Baghdad key to security throughout Iraq, Thursday, 27 July 2006)

whoo-hooh! woo-hah! how many more decisive periods can iraq take? how many more shifts in policy can we take? fallujah was to control sunni; baghdad is to control shi'ite; and kurds aren't really playing ball with either.

but never mind me; how do american troops feel about being part of a "decisive period" in this area of emergent business services?

• Army Staff Sgt. Jose Sixtos considered the simple question about morale for more than an hour....
• "Think of what you hate most about your job. Then think of doing what you hate most for five straight hours, every single day, sometimes twice a day, in 120-degree heat," he said. "Then ask how morale is."
• Frustrated? "You have no idea," he said....
• "It sucks. Honestly, it just feels like we're driving around waiting to get blown up. That's the most honest answer I could give you," said Spec. Tim Ivey, 28, of San Antonio, a muscular former backup fullback for Baylor University. "You lose a couple friends and it gets hard."
• "No one wants to be here, you know, no one is truly enthused about what we do," said Sgt. Christopher Dugger, the squad leader. ('Waiting to Get Blown Up', Some Troops in Baghdad Express Frustration With the War and Their Mission, By Joshua Partlow Washington Post Staff Writer, Thursday, July 27, 2006)
  

but at least the folks that sent them over there, those that see the big picture, are still optimistic, yes?

• Faced with almost daily reports of sectarian carnage in Iraq, congressional Republicans are shifting their message on the war from speaking optimistically of progress to acknowledging the difficulty of the mission and pointing up mistakes in planning and execution.
• Rep. Christopher Shays (Conn.) is using his House Government Reform subcommittee on national security to vent criticism of the White House's war strategy and new estimates of the monetary cost of the war. Rep. Gil Gutknecht (Minn.), once a strong supporter of the war, returned from Iraq this week declaring that conditions in Baghdad were far worse "than we'd been led to believe" and urging that troop withdrawals begin immediately. (GOP Lawmakers Edge Away From Optimism on Iraq By Jonathan Weisman and Anushka Asthana Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, July 20, 2006)

perhaps we ought to begin considering what iraqis think and think of some new options.