The US is fighting the Iraqi Government.

It's a sign of how fucked up this war is becoming. The US are now fighting the very government that their war put into power.

WARE: Yes, well, General Ray Odierno very much has his finger on the pulse of this war, and his assessment is entirely correct.

Yes, there has been some stabilization, some spectacular examples, like in al-Anbar province. Yes, it’s forced changes in the type of violence that we’re seeing here.

But Iraqi innocents are still dying in their hundreds and thousands every month. And what we’re failing to address is how we're achieving these successes in bringing down the violence is by cutting a deal with the tribes, the Baathists and the Sunni insurgents. It’s by creating Sunni militias to counteract the government’s own militias and the Iranian-backed militias. That’s bound to have long-term consequences.

In many ways, part of what’s being achieved is because America is turning somewhat, despite its rhetoric, against this government, fostering Sunni militias, questioning the role of this government, questioning whether it can actually perform.