I don't think the surge was ever working. I think they paid al-Sadr off to make it look like it was

[Quixote1818]

It just seems like too much of a coincidence that al-Sadr had a cease fire just as the Surge was kicking in. But is seems like al-Sadr is gearing up to start attacking again. If he does and I hope he doesn't, I expect the death toll to go back to where it was. They should have just paid him off and started to exit.

[lapfog_1]

1. Well, they certainly paid off AL-KADY-IN-IRAQ

and all of other Sunni militiamen (80,000 of them).

Of course, now the Sunni's are complaining that we don't pay them. And the Shia government is still targeting them...

[winter999]

2. The Sunni militia wasn't A-in-I. Just allies.

[lapfog_1]

3. Reports are that many of the "awakening" Sunnis were

in fact, Al-qaida in Iraq. For sure. Michael Warring(sp?) was just on last night talking about that.

[SoCalDem]

4. WE ARE PAYING EVERYONE OFF..

We are paying the Sunnis to kill the al qaeda (evildoers) and we are paying the shi'a to stop killing the sunnis, and we are paying Moqtada al-Sadr, to lay off with the Mehdi Army for now..

al Sadr WILL BE the new ruler of Iraq.. He is a local folk hero, Iran LOVES him because he's a cleric..he's got his own army, and he's busily stockpiling cash from US and from IRAN, until he's good and ready to take over..

All the money and lives lost, have gone ...to unite Iraq with Iran, and to install a newer, younger, possibly-meaner, and definitely more religiously insane dictator.. Mission Accomplished, indeed!

Ladies & gents..Meet the New "Saddam"..

[tom_paine]

5. I believe that is a very likely scenario, or part of a larger scenario

Remember, nearly 100% of EVERYTHING where the Bushies are concerned are Potemkin Lies.

It wouldn't surprise me, either, if this is just al-Sadr holding the Bushies up for a double-sized payment.

Which they will immediately cave to, of course, because to them it's only stolen looted taxpayer monies, so they have no problem using our money to pay off al-Sadr to ensure the surge continues "working" until the November installation of Emperor McBush.