Our post yesterday, "Progress," noted the bombing of the Shiite shrine in Samarra, and the attendant fears of new sectarian violence in Iraq. In the WaPo today, a new Pentagon report undercuts the constant claims of the surge's "progress" by the Bush Assministration and their deranged neocon cheerleaders. The level of violence remains high, curfews are needed to limit sectarian revenge killings, and insurgents have simply shifted away from Baghdad and Anbar province to attack elsewhere. The Iraqi government is far from meeting its political benchmarks, and the view is that the sectarian forces represented in the government have become so hostile to each other that the benchmarks may never be met.
