Here's a new take...

Heard an interesting comment from the new Ambassador to Iraq…Ryan Crocker.

He applauded the success of the “surge” in building and maintaining security in Iraq, and agreed with Gen. Petraeus that no timetable restrictions should be applied to the theater commanders as they make day to day determinations about the level of troops needed to keep the success going.

He also chided the Administration (quite frankly, too) in failing to promote the “surge” strategy OUTSIDE of the US military. I hadn’t thought of that side of the coin at all, until he said that in his opening statements to the SASC this afternoon.

Think about it a moment… with the increase in troop strength, but no parallel increase in civilian support and service branches of the government (embassy staff and security, political advisors to the various branches of the Iraqi government, intelligence and investigative agencies like the FBI and the CIA), we see only a portion of the success that could be achieved. The Army and Marines have given the Iraqi government time to get it’s crap together… but they are expected to do it with no additional help from the various agencies that could best provide it… especially agencies like DoJ and FBI. The analysis and applicability of information gained each day in Iraq by the Iraqis is as vital to security and governmental control as anything the US Army can provide by keeping the insurgents and militias at bay, isn’t it?

McCain was the only one of the three to touch on this (of course)… and the only one of the three to NOT spend his allotted time grand-standing to the cameras. Way to go, Mac!