MSM Acknowledges: The Surge is Backsliding!

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When Gen. David H. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker brief Congress this week, they will be hard-pressed to depict Iraq as moving toward stability in the wake of recent violence that sent deaths soaring to their highest level in seven months.

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“Having taken a commendable position that they are not going to accept this kind of presence, they will then have to make good on it, whether it’s through removal of heavy weapons or through the other necessary steps to actually take full control of every area where militias are embedded,” [Amb. Ryan] Crocker said. “And I can’t predict when and how that will go. It will be crucial to the future of the country that it proceed.”

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That’s not the only problem.

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There also are signs that the group Al Qaeda in Iraq is working to regenerate itself. Car bombs and suicide bombings, the hallmarks of the Sunni Arab extremist group, have crept up since December, according to U.S. military figures.

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Overall, last month’s 1,079 war-related deaths were the highest since August, when 1,860 people were killed. The sharp increase was due in large part to the Basra offensive and the ensuing battles, which Iraqi officials say killed more than 600 people.