Despite Bush Optimism, Analysts See �Failed Transition� in Iraq: "More U.S. soldiers and contractors have been killed and injured over three months since the transition to Iraqi rule on June 28, 2004, than any other three-month period since the U.S.-led invasion in March, 2003, while the estimated strength of insurgent forces appears to have risen sharply, according to the report by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF).
In addition, more members of the 30-nation coalition that joined with the U.S. in support of the invasion have withdrawn their forces, the latest being Costa Rica which, although it never actually contributed troops, demanded earlier this month to be taken off the coalition list.
Body counts appear to be rising for Iraqis themselves, both as a result of the insurgency and U.S.-led efforts to put it down and as a result of a crime wave that has persisted, if not spread, since the U.S. invasion, according to the 86-page report, �A Failed Transition: The Mounting Costs of the Iraq War.�
�This is a re-run of the Vietnam War on fast-forward,� said IPS director John Cavanagh, who contributed to the study. �It�s astounding that the number of monthly U.S. casualties is higher during this so-called �transition� to Iraqi rule than during the initial six weeks of the U.S. invasion.� "
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