Iraq

(UPI) Peter Pace said there will not be enough equipment for US troops involved in "the surge," and that the solution will be the Army and Marines sharing equipment.

(AP) "More U.S. troops were killed in combat in Iraq over the past four months — at least 334 through Jan. 31 — than in any comparable stretch since the war began."

(McClatchy) A long article outlining doubts about Maliki and his current political position. (Most interesting to me was the mention that the Iraqi PM position was designed to be weak for US purposes, and now it's causing difficulties.)

(BBC) An interesting informal blog-type item discussing the difficulties faced by the Iraqi stringers.

And, if somehow you didn't see it, the NYTimes piece on the lack of State Dept personnel going into Iraq is pivotal. "The surge" is actually just a tactic designed to create a lull (if it works.) The theory is that in that lull, politics and development can take place changing momentum, BUT, if that component is missing, there's no point in the surge.

So, the US military is showing up in full, trying to do their job, but Iraqi forces are not showing up, Iraqi politicians are not showing up, and now, elements of the State Dept are not showing up. US soldiers are taking bullets and IED's waiting for Godot.