One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Taking out Abu Mussab al Zarqawi was supposed to quell the unrest and violence in the strategically important Diyala province north of Baghdad. The area was turned over to the Iraqi security forces and American troops fell back to Baghdad for weeks at a time. The security situation did not improve.

Instead, security has collapsed in Diyala province, which now ranks as one of Iraq's most troubled regions. Insurgent attacks have more than doubled in the last year. Violence has devastated the provincial police force and brought reconstruction to a virtual standstill.

Assassinations have claimed the lives of mayors, tribal chieftains, police officials and judges, including a Shiite Muslim member of the provincial council who was killed Tuesday. Many government officials here sleep on cots in their offices because driving home is too dangerous.

And Iraqi security forces have been implicated in so many abuses that the U.S. commander here recently gave his Iraqi counterpart an angry lecture, likening the Iraqi troops to an "undisciplined rabble."

Now here is my question - how long are we going to hang around, having three or more soldiers a day picked off? By the way, in case you didn't notice the pattern, the attackers are getting more deliberate - they are purposefully targeting leadership - Sergeants and Officers - look at the stats. Snipers are targeting the leaders. The war has now taken on a psychological element with an advantage that goes to the home team.

For now, insurgents here appear to have gained the upper hand. They demonstrated their freedom of movement last week by barreling a dozen trucks through the streets of Baqubah's Amin neighborhood, shouting militant slogans and brandishing machine guns and shoulder-fired rocket launchers.

The defiant show of force was similar to another insurgent parade caught on video by a U.S. aerial drone in November. Insurgents were seen hauling Shiite families out of their homes and executing them in the streets, U.S. military officials who reviewed the footage said.

Diyala province is fertile farmland and untapped oil fields and the population has traditionally been ethnically diverse and congenial. Until now. Now, the ethnic strife of sectarian violence is tearing at the fabric of the society; the only common ground is hatred of Americans.

Now the American forces are faced with returning to Diyala province to quell an uprising and restore some semblance of order. Except now the insurgency is emboldened and entrenched. The Americans are in the open, the insurgents are in the shadows and getting stronger and more adept every day. Keeping one's enemy in a constant state of aggravation is a victory in it's own right, and the insurgents have definitely succeeded in keeping the American forces in a state of anxiety and tension.

Occupiers always leave, so can we just get on with it already and make with the diplomacy?