military surge will not solve diplomatic requirements« Thread Started on Aug 17, 2007, 9:06am » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Submitted by Bob Fertik on August 16, 2007 - 5:02pm. Iraq Warread at source> http://www.democrats.com/bushs-iraq-sur ... yxiationOn 1/10/07, Bush went on TV to announce his rejection of the recommendations of James Baker's Iraq Study Group, which included troop reductions, and his decision to send another 20,000+ troops - the defiant escalation that the media blandly called "the surge."Everyone assumed the "surge" was a temporary effort to reduce bloody violence so Iraq's government could overcome its deep sectarian differences - in other words, "breathing space."Al-Arabiya is reporting that the emergency political summit of Iraq's leaders has failed to produce even nominal political reconciliation. This is a devastating outcome for the Maliki government and for those Americans who hoped to have some political progress to show in the upcoming Crocker/Petraeus report. There's no other way to spin this: this summit was billed as the last chance, and it has failed. The goal of the summit was to bring alienated Sunnis back into Maliki's government. The result was the opposite - forming a sectarian Shia-Kurd government and alienating Sunnis completely.