Iraq - Together Forward is already failing as Baghdad descends into the Maelstrom.

Operation Together Forward is failing. (Together Forward was predicated on a joint US-Iraqi "clear and hold" strategy. The US would focus forces on the worst neighborhoods, "pacify" them, and then hand them over to Iraqi troops for stability and maintenance.)

Tuesday, there was the announcement that the US had completed sweeps of Shaab and Ur and was turning them over to Iraq security forces. There was a bombing in Shaab yesterday, and now we're getting reports,

The fighting raged on as a coalition intelligence official told reporters that illegal armed groups were returning to Baghdad areas once deemed to have been secured by a massive joint US and Iraqi security operation.

Worse, he said there is evidence that the Iraqi police units left behind after military forces move through the areas are collaborating with death squads, whose victims' corpses lie scattered through Baghdad every morning.

"The pattern we have tended to see is that as we've cleared areas, the numbers of murders and executions have decreased in most sectors," the officer said. He admitted, however. that in some places the violence has returned.

"We would ascribe that to probably some measure of some elements in MOI (Ministry of Interior) facilitating the re-entry of folks into the secure area," said the intelligence official referring to militia death squads.

(The NYTimes has a larger, non-specific piece citing US military complaints that the Iraqi government is shielding Shia militias. Worth a read just for context, but what caught my eye was this odd inclusion,

U.S. officials are anxious for Iraqis to take a stronger role in their country's security because of mounting pressure to withdraw American troops as soon as possible. Rising public discontent in the United States with the war, tired troops on their third and fourth rotations in the Middle East and huge expenditures by American taxpayers are all driving U.S. officials to press the government of Maliki, a Shiite, to quickly take more responsibility.

Interesting, eh?)