Troop surge in Iraq/external articles 2007

This article is part of SourceWatch and Congresspedia coverage of the Bush administration's war in Iraq

Main article:

Operation Iraqi Freedom

Sub-articles:

External articles (has links to sub-articles) Related SourceWatch articles Congressional actions on the Iraq War Daily & current news updates Exit Strategy from Iraq Friedman (Iraq War time unit) Iraq Coalition casualty statistics Iraqi casualties Military and political dissent Selling the war at home Bloggers' Roundtable Freedom's Watch Iraq Communications Desk Vets for Freedom Stay the course return on success Troop surge in Iraq Sen. John McCain and the surge The Petraeus Report Testimony U.S. military readiness Violence in the Middle East

The following are external articles for January through April 2007 related to the main article troop surge in Iraq (McCain doctrine).

Also see external links starting May 2007 and external articles through 2006.

January

• Michael Abramowitz, "GOP Lawmakers Divided About 'Surge' in Troops," Washington Post, January 1, 2007.
• Robert Novak, "A 'Surge' Faces Trouble In the Senate. Even in GOP, Few Back the President," Washington Post, January 1, 2007.
• Edward Luce, "Rising opposition to US troop increase," Financial Times (UK), January 1, 2007.
• Carol Devine-Molin, "Possible troop surge triggers lots of questions," Enter Stage Right, January 1, 2007.
• "Republican Lawmakers Abandoning Bush/McCain/Lieberman Calls for Escalation, 'Surge'," DownWithTyranny! Blogspot, January 1, 2007.
• David E. Sanger, Michael R. Gordon, and John F. Burns, "Chaos Overran Iraq Plan in ’06, Bush Team Says," New York Times, January 2, 2007.
• Justin Webb, "Bush 'to reveal Iraq troop boost'," BBC, January 2, 2007.
• Greg Sargent, "Edwards Coins New Phrase For Escalation: 'The McCain Doctrine'," TPM Cafe, January 2, 2007.
• Greg Sargent, "FLASHBACK: Bush Repeatedly Gushed With Praise For General Casey," TPM Cafe, January 2, 2007.
• "Casey Culpa," Mass Eyes & Ears, January 2, 2007.
• Keith Olbermann, "Olbermann: Special comment about 'sacrifice'. BBC reports Bush will reveal troop surge plan in sacrifice-themed speech," MSNBC, January 3, 2006.
• Dan Froomkin, "Where's the Outrage Over Escalation?" Washington Post, January 3, 2006.
• Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef, "Bush considering smaller-than-expected increase in troops for Iraq," McClatchy Newspapers, January 3, 2007.
• Brent Budowsky, "The Decider Lays Down The Law, Reid and Pelosi Should Lay It Right Back," The Huffington Post, January 3, 2007.
• "Adding troops in Iraq, seen as a solution by some, would mean new risks," Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), January 4, 2007.
• "Sen. McCain taking criticism from all sides. Perceived GOP front-runner stays largely silent in face of bipartisan attacks," Associated Press (MSNBC), January 4, 2007.
• Peter Spiegel, "Old guard back on Iraq policy. An influential faction of neoconservatives is behind Bush's expected call for more troops," Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2007.
• Robert Dreyfuss, "The Surge to Nowhere. Traveling the Planet Neocon Road to Baghdad (Again)," TomDispatch.com, January 4, 2007. Intro by Tom Engelhardt.
• Announcement: "Iraq: A Turning Point. With Reports from Iraq from Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman" at the American Enterprise Institute, January 5, 2007.
• Ken Fireman, "McCain to Back Iraq Surge Only If 'Sufficient and Sustained'," Bloomberg, January 5, 2007.
• Joseph L. Galloway, "More Troops for Iraq: Bush's Next 'Flight from Reality'," Editor & Publisher, January 5, 2007.
• Jennifer Loven, "Critics Slam Possible Iraq Troop Boost," Associated Press (Guardian Unlimited (UK)), January 5, 2007.
• Oliver North, "More Troops = More Targets," Human Events Online, January 5, 2007.
• Jon Ponder, "Biden: Bush Knows Iraq is Lost, 'Surge'Goal is to Delay Collapse Until '08," Pensito Review, January 5, 2007.
• kos, "The pro-war fringe," Daily Kos, January 5, 2007.
• Nico Pitney, "CBS: Military Tells Bush It Only 9,000 Troops Available for 'Surge,' ThinkProgress, January 5, 2007.
• Judd Legum, "Lott: I May Oppose Troop Escalation," Think Progress, January 5, 2007. re Trent Lott
• Michael R. Gordon, "A New Commander, in Step With the White House on Iraq," New York Times, January 6, 2007. re David Petraeus and William J. Fallon
• Tom Reid, "Bush surrounds himself with war supporters," Times Online (UK), January 6, 2007.
• Mark Benjamin, "The real Iraq Study Group. Forget Jim Baker's crew. The neocon hawks who sold the war, joined by John McCain and Joe Lieberman, unveiled their new plan for 'victory': At least 25,000 new troops in combat roles well into 2008," Salon, January 6, 2007. Preview or subscription required. re Iraq Study Group
• James L. Galloway, Editorial: "U.S. long overdue for a surge of reflection," McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (Austin American-Statesman), January 6, 2007.
• Robert Dreyfuss, "One last thrust in Iraq," Asia Times, January 6, 2007.
• Michael Roston, "McCain: 'I was for the troop surge before I was against it," Looking for Someone to Lie to Me Blogspot, January 6, 2007.
• Kevin Drum, "Surge Update," Washington Monthly, January 6, 2007.
• Michael Abramowithz, Robin Wright, and Ann Scott Tyson, "Critics Say 'Surge' Is More of The Same. Past Troop Buildups Have Not Quelled Iraq," Washington Post, January 7, 2007.
• Shailagh Murray, "Sen. Lieberman Goes His Independent Way. He Calls for 'Substantial' Troop Increase in Iraq," Washington Post, January 7, 2007.
• Trevor Royle, "US opts for final ‘surge’ to win battle of Baghdad," Sunday Herald (UK), January 7, 2007.
• Andrew Gumbel, "US general points the finger over 'doomed' troop policy in Iraq. Ex-Nato chief, writing in the 'IoS', says sending 20,000 soldiers would be 'too little, too late' and may alienate Iraqis further," The Independent (UK), January 7, 2007. re Wesley Kanne Clark
• "George Will and David Brooks Join Critics of the 'Surge'," Editor & Publisher, January 7, 2007.
• David E. Sanger, "Bush Plan for Iraq Requests More Troops and More Jobs," New York Times, January 7, 2007.
• Robert Novak, "McCain backers fear they could lose new Florida governor's support," Chicago Sun-Times, January 7, 2007. Scroll down to "Advice from Powell".
• Justin Peters, "Surge Overkill," Slate, January 7, 2007.
• Peter Spiegel, Opinion: "Behind troop surge, a neocon force. Group of war's intellectual architects seem to be getting their way on a surge in U.S. troops and a more focused counterinsurgency effort," Los Angeles Times (Austin American-Statesman), January 7, 2007.
• Peter Spiegel, "Neocons regain voice as Bush rethinks Iraq," Los Angeles Times (Seattle Times), January 8, 2007.
• "General: 'Surge' in Iraq not enough. No. 2 U.S. commander says political, economic measures also needed," Baltimore Sun (from wire reports), January 8, 2007.
• Ann Scott Tyson, "Democrats Vow To Resist Buildup. Coming Iraq Plan to Meet Harsh Scrutiny," Washington Post, January 8, 2007.
• Michael R. Gordon and Jeff Zeleny, "Plan Sets Series of Goals for Iraq Leaders," New York Times, January 8, 2007.
• Jonathan Weisman, "Democrats Revise Agenda To Deal With War in Iraq. With Bush to Announce New Plan, Domestic Policy No Longer Primary Focus," Washington Post, January 8, 2007.
• "Pelosi: No Iraq `blank check'. Congress wants input on new war strategy," Tribune News Services (Newsday), January 8, 2007.
• Hope Yen, "Bush Prepares to Announce New Iraq Plan," Associated Press (ABC News), January 8, 2007.
• Guy Dinmore, "Republicans' division over Iraq grows," Financial Times (MSNBC), January 8, 2007.
• Peter Spiegel and Maura Reynolds, "Troop surge can't be brief, backers insist," Los Angeles Times, January 8, 2007.
• Matt Spetalnick, "Bush crafts Iraq troop plan despite skeptics," Reuters, January 8, 2007.
• Joe Sudbay, "Bush says 'trust me.' But is there any reason why we should? Any?" AMERICAblog, January 8, 2007.
• Michael Abramowitz, Robin Wright, and Thomas E. Ricks, "On Iraq, Bush to pull away from generals. They initially advised against troop 'surge' to combat insurgency," Washington Post (MSNBC), January 10, 2007.
• Tom Raum, "Analysis: Bush's new plan not all new," Associated Press (Record Eagle), January 10, 2007.
• Carolyn Lochhead, "Bush to admit mistake in Iraq. Official says that adding U.S. troops was suggested by Iraqi leader," San Francisco Chronicle, January 10, 2007.
• "Clinton: Bush 'has not gotten the message'," Associated Press (Newsday), January 10, 2007.
• AJ in DC, "Why the 'surge' won't work," AMERICAblog, January 10, 2007.
• "Brownback opposes Bush escalation," Think Progress, January 10, 2007. re Sam Brownback
• William M. Arkin, "War With Syria and Iran = Peace With Iraq?" Early Warning/Washington Post, January 10, 2007.
• Will Bunch, "'E-Day': It was 40 years ago today," Attytood, January 10, 2007.
• Kargo X, "Lame duck president sends sitting ducks to Iraq," Daily Kos, January 10, 2007.
• Jonathan Weisman and Dan Balz, "Democrats Aim to Block Funds for Plan," Washington Post, January 11, 2007.
• Jon Cohen, "Poll: Most Americans Opposed to Bush's Iraq Plan. Majority of Those Surveyed Are Skeptical That Surge Would Make Victory More Likely," Washington Post, January 11, 2007.
• "Bush on Iraq: Commitment 'not open-ended'," CNN, January 11, 2007.
• David Corn, "Bush's Speech Full of Reality-Based Desperation," The Nation (AlterNet), January 11, 2007.
• Catherine Dodge and Holly Rosenkrantz, "Bush, Support Slipping, Commits More Troops to Iraq (Update2)," Bloomberg, January 11, 2007.
• David Wood, "U.S. faces long, difficult, bloody conflict under same strategy. 18 months to show progress," Baltimore Sun, January 11, 2007.
• Mike Dorning and Aamer Madhani, "Experts doubt 'surge' will be able to turn tide," Chicago Tribune, January 11, 2007.
• Jill Zuckerman, "Bush faces GOP doubters. Republicans not quiet about war plan worries," Chicago Tribune, January 11, 2007.
• Gail Russell Chaddock, "Congress: the loyal opposition," Christian Science Monitor (Seattle Times), January 11, 2007.
• AJ in DC, "Administration grossly misunderstands nature of current conflict," AMERICAblog, January 11, 2007.
• Thomas Harding and Toby Harnden, "3,000 British troops to pull out of Iraq by May," Telegraph (UK), January 11, 2007. re coalition of the willing
• John Aravosis, "Senate Republicans' filibuster threat could kill Bush's 'surge' plan," AMERICAblog, January 11, 2007.
• Anne Flaherty, "GOP, Democrats Skirmish Over Iraq Plan," Associated Press (San Francisco Chronicle), January 12, 2007.
• Zbigniew Brzezinski, "Five Flaws in the President's Plan," Washington Post, January 12, 2007.
• Josh White and Anne Scott Tyson, "Gates Ties Iraq Push to Drawdown. Successful Troop Boost Could Mean Withdrawal Starting by Year's End, He Says," Washington Post, January 13, 2007.
• "Clinton Doubts Iraqis Can Pacify Baghdad," Associated Press (Seattle Post-Intelligencer; Townhall.com), January 13, 2007.
• Matthew B. Stannard, "Experts doubt Iraqis can make Bush plan work," San Francisco Chronicle, January 13, 2007.
• Calvin Woodward, "Choices Dwindle if Iraq War Plan Fails. U.S. will likely face limited options, all grim, if Bush's 'new way forward' fails in Iraq," Associated Press (CBS News), January 13, 2007.
• Deb Reichmann, "Bush Challenges Skeptics Over Iraq Plan," Associated Press (ABC News), January 13, 2007.
• Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, "The jihad now is against the Shias, not the Americans. As 20,000 more US troops head for Iraq, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, the only correspondent reporting regularly from behind the country's sectarian battle lines, reveals how the Sunni insurgency has changed," The Guardian (UK), January 13, 2007.
• Louise Roug and Peter Spiegel, "Iraqi leader goes own way to fill top post. He picks an unknown to lead forces in Baghdad, which raises questions about his motives," Los Angeles Times, January 13, 2007.
• Peter Baker and Michael Abramowitz, "Opposition to Iraq Plan Leaves Bush Isolated. Even Some in GOP Keeping Distance," Washington Post, January 14, 2007.
• The Angry Rakkasan, "Frederick Kagan is an Unqualified Fraud: Read His CV Here," Daily Kos, January 14, 2007. re Frederick Kagan
• Gregory Djerejian, "'Surge' Math," The Belgravia Dispatch, January 14, 2007.
• "Bush Going For Broke With Troop Surge. 60 Minutes Exclusive: President Has Made Up His Mind And Takes Full Responsibility," CBS News, January 14, 2007. 60 Minutes Video link.
• Mark Seibel, "McClatchy Report: Are Americans Getting Truth on Iraq?" Editor & Publisher, January 14, 2007.
• Kevin Whitelaw and Anna Mulrine, "4th and Long. President Bush's Commitment of more troops to Iraq isn't just unpopular-it's a last-ditch gamble against tough odds," U.S. News & World Report, January 14, 2007.
• Michael A. Fletcher, "Bush: 'We're Going Forward'. More Troops Called The Only Iraq Option," Washington Post, January 15, 2007.
• Rupert Cornwell, "Bush faces mutiny over extra troops for Iraq," The Independent (UK), January 15, 2007.
• "From surge to SNAFU, in less than a week," Over the line, Smokey! Blog, January 15, 2007.
• John Barry and Evan Thomas, "Blame for the Top Brass," Newsweek, January 15, 2007; January 22, 2007 (issue).
• Bill Gallagher, "Our Delusional President Preferring Yes-Men, Yes-Women, Yes-Generals," Niagara Falls Reporter, January 16, 2007.
• Chris Cillizza, "MoveOn.org Targets McCain in Iowa and New Hampshire," The Fix Blog/Washington Post, January 18, 2007. re MoveOn.org
• AJ in DC, "A brief note on language," AMERICAblog, January 18, 2007. re "Hail Mary"
• Lolita C. Baldor, "Pelosi: U.S. Not Obliged to Stay in Iraq. Pelosi says U.S. not obligated to stay in Iraq 'in perpetuity'; support grows against buildup," Associated Press (CBS News), January 19, 2007.
• Henry A. Kissinger, "The new Iraq strategy," Khaleej Times Online (India), January 19, 2007.
• Ray McGovern, "Show Me The Intelligence," TomPaine.com, January 19, 2007. re National Intelligence Estimate
• Leila Fadel and Yaseen Taha, "Kurdish-Iraqi soldiers deserting. Many troops want to avoid sectarian strife in Baghdad," McClatchy Newspapers (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), January 20, 2007: "Kurdish soldiers from northern Iraq, who are mostly Sunnis but not Arabs, are deserting the army to avoid the civil war in Baghdad, a conflict they consider someone else's problem."
• Glenn Greenwald, "Bill Kristol and Fred Kagan's war games (updated below)," Unclaimed Territory Blogspot, January 20, 2007. re Frederick W. Kagan and William Kristol's "All We Are Saying ... Is Give Petraeus a Chance. Members of Congress should ask themselves, 'What can we do to help Petraeus succeed?'" The Weekly Standard, January 29, 2007 (issue).
• Faiz Shakir, "McCain: Bush Escalation Is Too Small," Think Progress, January 21, 2007.
• John Aravosis, "Senator Voinovich (R-OH) is the latest confused Republican," AMERICAblog, January 25, 2007. re George Voinovich
• Nico Pitney, "NPR’s Rehm: Delayed Iraq NIE Will Undermine Case For Escalation," Think Progress, January 25, 2007.
• Robert Burns, "Gates: Iraq resolution 'emboldens' enemy" and "Gates: Resolution would aid foes. Bush asserts he has final say on troop levels," Associated Press (Boston Globe), January 27, 2007.
• Edward Epstein, "In Baghdad, House members push for pullout," San Francisco Chronicle, January 27, 2007.
• John Aravosis, "Bush now quoting the Baker-Hamilton report - the report he totally ignored - to 'prove' that his escalation is a good idea," AMERICAblog, January 29, 2007. re Iraq Study Group report
• Mark Benjamin, "Hawks knock surge plan's command structure. Buried in the Bush escalation plan is a who's-in-charge nightmare that violates U.S. military doctrine. Now even John McCain and Frederick Kagan are balking," Salon, January 29, 2007.
• Isaac Chotiner, "Kagan/Keane Not Pleased with Kagan/Keane Plan," The Plank/The New Republic Online, January 29, 2007.
• Rupert Cornwell, "US must abandon Iraqi cities or face nightmare scenario, say experts," The Independent (UK), January 30, 2007.
• Carl Hulse and Thom Shanker, "Senate Allies of Bush Work to Halt Iraq Vote," New York Times, January 31, 2007.

February

• "Breaking: Double the Troops in 'Surge' (Updated)," DefenseTech.org/Military.com, February 1, 2007.

• See February 1, 2007, Congressional Budget Office letter to House Budget Committee.
• "Iraq Escalation Could Be Twice As Large As Bush Claimed," Think Progress, February 1, 2007.
• Anne Flaherty, "Casey: Only Half of Troop Boost Needed. Casey Says Baghdad Could Be Secured With Smaller Troop Buildup Than Proposed by White House," Associated Press (ABC News), February 1, 2007.
• "White House Disputes CBO Report, Says Combat Troops Don’t Need More Support," Think Progress, February 2, 2007.

• Carl Hulse, "Republicans Plan to Block Iraq Debate," New York Times, February 3, 2007. Also see comment by John Aravosis, AMERICA blog.
• Karen DeYoung, "Doubts Run Deep on Reforms Crucial to Bush's Iraq Strategy. Even Plan's Authors Say Political, Economic Changes May Fail," Washington Post, February 4, 2007.
• Kate Phillips, "War at Home: McCain’s Resolution," The Caucus / Washington Post, February 5, 2007. See McCain's resolution.
• "McCain blasts Iraq resolution," 24.com, February 5, 2007.
• David Espo, "Dems seek to limit U.S. Iraq involvement," Associated Press (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), February 11, 2007.
• John Amato, "Oliver North questions McCain and Lieberman’s honesty over troop escalation," Crooks and Liars, February 11, 2007.
• George Lakoff, "Escalating Truth," BuzzFlash, February 14, 2007.
• Nitya Venkataraman, "McCain: Bush Pursuit of Iraq a 'Train Wreck'. McCain Slams Bush Administration on Iraq and Global Warming, Criticizes Both Cheney and Rumsfeld," ABC News, February 22, 2007.
• Simon Tisdall, "Military chiefs give US six months to win Iraq war," Guardian Unlimited (UK), February 28, 2007: "Violence expected to rise after UK withdrawal. Troop numbers too low. Coalition is 'disintegrating'."

March

• Richard Cowan, "Pentagon raises estimate of troops for Iraq," Reuters, March 6, 2007.
• Ibon Villelabeitia, "U.S. commander urges talks, sees Baghdad backlash," Reuters, March 8, 2007.
• Robert Burns, "Bush Iraq plan costs begin to balloon," Associated Press (USA TODAY), March 9, 2007.
• Peter Baker, "Additional Troop Increase Approved. President Agrees To Send 8,200 More To Iraq, Afghanistan," Washington Post, March 11, 2007.
• Mark Tran, "US plans Iraq withdrawal if 'surge' fails," Guardian Unlimited (UK), March 12, 2007.
• Spencer Ackerman, "The Surge Is (Or Might Not At All Be) Working," TPMmuckraker, March 15, 2007.
• Bryan Bender, "General wants additional troops. Move would boost planned expansion to almost 30,000," Boston Globe, March 15, 2007.

April

• Babak Dehghanpisheh, "A Sunday Stroll in Iraq's Capital," Checkpoint Baghdad / Newsweek, April 1, 2007.
• John Aravosis, "McCain takes 'safe' stroll in Baghdad market... wearing body armor, flanked by 100 American soldiers, 3 Blackhawk helicopters, and 2 Apache gunships," AMERICAblog, April 1, 2007.
• Joe Sudbay, "McCain's Iraq delusions, Part II," AMERICAblog, April 2, 2007.
• Kirk Semple,
• Kirk Semple, "McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say," New York Times, April 3, 2007.
• John Aravosis, "Bush just lied in his press conference about Iraq; said our military commanders came up with the surge, in fact they opposed the surge, all of them," AMERICAblog, April 3, 2007.
• Robert Parry, "'Surging' Toward Failure in Iraq," Consortiumnews.com, April 10, 2007: "The Washington pundits and the press are all atwitter wondering how successful George W. Bush’s Iraq 'surge' strategy will be and how fast the Democrats will crumble in a showdown with the steely-eyed President over his demand for $100 billion more for the war with no strings attached."
• Lolita C. Baldor, "Petraeus Eyes Long Commitment in Iraq," Associated Press (Spokesman Review), April 26, 2007.
• David E. Sanger, "The White House Scales Back Talk of Iraq Progress," New York Times, April 28, 2007.
• Kevin Drum, "NO LIGHT IN THE TUNNEL....Is it a surge or an escalation?" Washington Monthly, April 28, 2007.