Cord Byrd: “last night in his address to the Nation, the President called for a ``surge'' of 20,000 additional U.S. troops to help…”

“last night in his address to the Nation, the President called for a ``surge'' of 20,000 additional U.S. troops to help secure Baghdad against the violence that has consumed it. Unfortunately, such a plan is not the outline of a brave new course, as we were told, but a tragic commitment to an already failed policy; not a bold new strategy but a rededication to a course that has proven to be a colossal blunder on every count. The President never spoke words more true than when he said, ``The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people.'' But the President, once again, failed to offer a realistic way forward. Instead, he gave us more of his stale and tired ``stay the course'' prescriptions. The President espoused a strategy of ``clear, hold, and build''--a doctrine of counterinsurgency that one of our top commanders, GEN David Petraeus, helped to formulate. Clear, hold, and build involves bringing to bear a large number of troops in an area, clearing it of insurgents, holding it secure for long enough to let reconstruction take place. But what the President did not say last night is that, according to General Petraeus and his own military experts, this strategy of ``clear, hold, and build'' requires a huge number of troops--a minimum of 20 combat troops for every 1,000 civilians in the area. If we apply that doctrine to Baghdad's 6 million people, it means that at least 120,000 troops will be needed to secure Baghdad alone.…”