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So what is actually going to happen on the ground in Baghdad? ABC's Jonathan Karl filed from Camp Victory, the US military base at the Baghdad Airport. He told us that US forces in the city would be doubled to nine battalions by adding 17,500 more soldiers. Each battalion will be assigned to one of Baghdad's nine districts, which it will patrol with an Iraqi army battalion and an Iraqi police battalion. "The idea is for US and Iraqi forces to become a more integral part of Baghdad neighborhoods," Karl explained. "This will likely mean more US casualties in the short run."
ABC also returned to Jack Keane, the retired general who has the confusing dual role of advising the President to order this deployment and consulting for ABC News about how to analyze the advice he has just had accepted. This is how he interpreted his own plan: "Most of 2007 we will spend securing Baghdad and literally getting it under control in a way that we have never had before. In 2008 we will be able to go to al-Anbar and do the same mission there--secure the population."
It is always bad journalism to use the word "we" to refer to any institution other than the news organization doing the reporting. Keane may or may not be giving good advice to the President. The quality of his consultation for ABC News falls short of professional standards.
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