Just Like Witches at Black Masses

Brandon Friedman (A-stan vet) has some sharp analysis on why we need more troops in Afghanistan that's worth a read. Other COIN luminaries have called for more troops in Afghanistan, and the President has as well. I agree, but there still needs to be a larger active-duty force, which has been pretty steady since 9/11 to prevent morale/readiness problems. But at least it looks like things are going okay in Iraq. Ramblings from a Painter (works at the new embassy in Baghdad) has the scoop on the Provincial Elections scheduled for Saturday:

With over 14,400 candidates vying for 440 council seats, there are a lot of people looking for air time for their messages. I was watching an Iraqi channel on TV a little while ago and saw non-stop political ads. I mean non-stop: there wasn't any scheduled programming! Just ads for this candidate or that, with a bunch of "rock-the-vote" style ads in between.

If "too many candidates" is the biggest problem facing Iraqi elections, I'd wager that's pretty good. This is in comparison to 2005 where the Sunnis all boycotted and violence went through the roof. Sure, Iraq still has a lot of problems with poverty, refugees, and corruption, but as far as our military is concerned..."Mission Accomplished". Yeah, I said it, and I'm not even wearing a flight suit with a cod piece. Hopefully our forces can leave Iraq without a lot of problems, because the writing is on the wall that Afghanistan is ramping up.