Pentagon concludes US defeated in key Iraqi province | By Bill Van Auken | 14 September 2006

A series of Pentagon and other government documents either released or leaked in the last week have underscored the deepening debacle confronting the US occupation of Iraq.

The most startling among them is a classified report drafted by the US Marine Corps’ chief intelligence officer in Iraq concluding that the US has already lost in its effort to suppress the resistance in the country’s restive Anbar province.

According to a Washington Post account of the secret document, the intelligence officer, Col. Pete Devlin, concluded that “there is almost nothing the US military can do to improve the political and social situation there.”...
- posted by Editor @ 8:03 AM

Poll: Iraqis back attacks on U.S. troops | By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer 1 minute ago

WASHINGTON - About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, and slightly more than that want their government to ask U.S. troops to leave within a year, according to a poll in that country.

The Iraqis also have negative views of Osama bin Laden, according to the early September poll of 1,150.

The poll, done for University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, found:

_Almost four in five Iraqis say the U.S. military force in
Iraq provokes more violence than it prevents.

_About 61 percent approved of the attacks — up from 47 percent in January. A solid majority of Shiite and Sunni Arabs approved of the attacks, according to the poll. The increase came mostly among Shiite Iraqis.

_An overwhelmingly negative opinion of terror chief bin Laden and more than half, 57 percent, disapproving of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

_Three-fourths say they think the United States plans to keep military bases in Iraq permanently. ...
- posted by Editor @ 7:35 PM