INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE SURGE. Kevin Drum compiles the relevant data and notes that along virtually all significant metrics the surge has failed to stop things from becoming worse that they were in 2006. It seems worth emphasizing that 1) the only way that the surge or any other military strategy can work is if it leads to a stable Iraqi state, and 2 )the chances of a stable Iraqi state emerging as the supply of basics like electricity and gas get even worse -- with the devastating economic consequences that will inevitably follow -- are roughly on a par with the chances of the Natural Law Party winning the 2008 Presidential election. This isn't the "fault" of the surge per se -- given the number of troops available, protecting the national power grid, oil and gas pipelines, etc. in the absence of a viable state is impossible. But the lesson is that the surge is wasting money and lives to try to accomplish goals that it is beyond the ability of American military power to accomplish. By the way, doesn't the decline in diesel fuel supplies create a problem for that amazing so-atavistic-it's-new generator-powered electricity system that Ken Pollack told me about? Maybe they run on the same essence de unicorn that will cause a political reconciliation to emerge out of nothing. --Scott Lemieux
