"The insurgency is in its last throws." It's hard to know if the Vice-President truly believed that or if he was just trying once again to assuage the American people about our role in the Iraqi insurgency as well as the possibility of all out civil war. Well many months later we have an answer, it was the first one. The fact that we are still unable to basically give the Iraqi people what they really want which is security goes to show how once again this administration failed to have any foresight about the insurgency and the subsequent civil war.
The White House may be scared to admit that a civil war is currently occuring in Iraq but most would think the opposite. This sectarian violence is only going to continue without any real resolution from the U.S. as to an actual security strategy to ease the tensions between the different factions. When you're given the choice of either having to defend for your family because they may be the targets of violence by joining a militia or hope that the U.S. occupiers will be able to keep you secure when they have failed to do so in the past, the choice seems pretty obvious to me. It's not the Army's fault that apparently no one thought that the insurgency was going to last this long and ultimately start an out-rigth civil war. How could they? The administration also apparently didn't think the levee's in New Orleans could get breeched so why would they start to think negatively on the Iraq situaution? This issue isn't going to get solved easily. Now that the people of Iraq have lost all confidence of the U.S's capability to not only control the sectarian violence but ensure security, the next decision to make is to either hope that they aren't targets of violence or to join a militia and be forced to ensure your family's safety as well as your own. Rage Against The Machine so eloquently stated that, "War within a breath, it's land or death." How unfortunate that that statement holds so much truth and will resonate with any Iraqi citizen since that is the decision they are now being forced to make.