Despite The Surge

Even CNN - through reporter Anwa Damon - has seen through the constant hype of the Bush cabal over the past year's surge of US troops into Baghdad. (CNN online, January 31)

Anyone in their right mind is going to be profoundly grateful for the big drop in violence in Baghdad. But of course the story does not stop there.

Baghdad residents told Damon that "almost everyone knows someone -- a family member or friend -- who has been killed or kidnapped." They said that their capital is barely recognizable. "Baghdad is largely chopped into sectarian blocks, each guarded by its own armed force, most supported by the United States. And many Iraqis still don't dare cross sectarian lines."

A young Iraqi man tells Damon: "This isn't a government. It's a mob that came to govern a palace called the Green Zone, and it can't even govern that."

An Iraqi doctor says: "I told my friends once that we must all go to heaven -- us Iraqis -- because we have already been to hell."

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As of today, the number of US troops killed in Iraq is 3,943.