Iraq - The difference between the bottom and the top

Both the WaPo and NYTimes have big articles about US troops unhappily hearing the news on their deployment extensions.

Funny, but Robert Gates told me just two days ago that the soldiers would welcome this because it would offer them "predictability" and "clarity."

The other point of interest today is the reaction of the Iraqis to the Parliament bombing. Within the political structure, this bombing may have killed any "momentum" that may have been claimed by "the surge."

"The security plan is dead. If they are able to reach inside the parliament, then we should not talk about the security plan anymore," said Sunni legislator Saleh al-Mutlaq.

"Nowhere is safe," said Ridha Jawad Taqi, a Shiite member of parliament.

Not covered by the American press, but probably far more interesting to me is the reaction of the average Iraqi.

The sad fact is that, had this bomb not gone off in parliament and killed MPs, it would barely have been reported internationally in a country where such outrages often claim scores of lives, in crowded streets and markets and mosques.

That is why many Iraqis reacted with indifference to the bomb in parliament.

"What have they ever done for us?" was the answer of one when he heard the news. "What I care about are all the ordinary people who get blown to pieces every day."

Apart from those who live in the isolated bubble of security that the Green Zone normally is, most of Baghdad's residents would be much more affected by the destruction, just a few hours earlier, of the Sarrafiya bridge.

The bottom line is that the parliament bombing is perceived as a major blow to the US effort in Iraq, but, to average Iraqis, it doesn't mean too much. They already know they're in a civil war, and they had no belief the US plan would work anyhow.

I think this really shows that the US strategy of creating security and political "breathing space" never really penetrated below a small segment of of Iraq's political class. It was based upon the idea of changing momentum, but the vast depths of "the street" never bought in.