Testing the surge

The first thing I do after coming home from class every day is read the news online. But I noticed that in the last few months I have begun to skip headlines about Iraq. \nIt wasn’t calculated on my part, and it wasn’t because I didn’t care. It just seemed that headlines were the same each day, just with a new number, usually reading something along the lines of “Bomb blast kills (X number of) civilians in Iraq.”\nI don’t think I’m alone in my sort of war-weary apathy. It seems as though the American public has begun to treat the war in Iraq the way one would treat a permanent injury: You know it’s there and it bothers you, but you learn to live with it. \nDoes anybody really know what’s going on? What progress is being made, what issues still exist, how do we resolve those issues, when we are getting “out” and what are the long-term effects for our nation, for the region and for the world? \nThe headlines don’t really provide any answers. They are just grim reminders of all that is wrong. \nOn Tuesday, however, a very interesting story about the war in Iraq appeared in the news. \nThe military has announced that the hotly debated “troop surge” is going to be reversed. It might not seem that significant, but it actually is, for many reasons. \nThe number of U.S. troops in Iraq is currently 167,000. It is expected to drop to between 140,000 to 145,000 by July.\nMore U.S. troops have died this year than in any other year since the start of the war – 856 to be exact – but the monthly death toll has declined since summer, and Iraqi civilian deaths have also declined. \nThe surge increased U.S. presence in and around Baghdad, primarily for the purpose of fighting insurgency and sectarian violence. The gradual withdrawal of American forces will be very telling in the end – we will know if the surge strategy actually resulted in any lasting effects against the violence in Iraq. \nU.S commanders say the increase of troops was not the only thing that changed, but that the way the troops operate also changed. They now live and operate among ordinary Iraqis, building trust and amicable relationships with the local population. \nThey are also undertaking more of a support role – making Iraqi security forces step up and do more work. \nApparently there has also been an increase in the number of Iraqi civilians joining anti-insurgent “neighborhood watch groups” and alliances helping U.S. forces find insurgents and their weapon stores and uncovering bombs before they detonate.\nThese are all claims made by U.S. higher-ups, and they imply that more ordinary Iraqis are starting to feel hope for their nation. \nThat is what makes this troop withdrawal significant – it tests these claims. I hope, for the sake of the Iraqi people, that the troop withdrawal passes this test.