Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[PegnVA]

While violence in/around Baghdad has subsided due mainly to a surge in US military in that area and we read that people are once again "cooking by a sunlit window", violence in northern Iraq has had a dramatic upsurge...reminding everyone of John McCain's, "wack-a-mole" comment.
As a stark reminder of just how unsafe/violent Iraq is, the US State Department remains short of people willing to volunteer for service in Iraq. Unless/until attitudes in a gov't agency that KNOWS what is going on in Iraq do change, not many people will believe keeping US troops in Iraq indefinitely will effect a permanent change in Iraq.