Perspective: Would a Troop Surge in Iraq Work?

The Baghdad district of Sanak is exactly the kind of place Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli and other advocates of more "soft power" in Iraq like to see. Dozens of shops in the commercial area open each day offering everything from farming equipment to plumbing supplies. The daily bustle of trade in business wares on the streets of Sanak suggests the promise of jobs to be had in Iraq, a sense Chiarelli and others say is vital to slowing the bloodshed here.

"If I could drive down unemployment in this country just to something that was reasonable, or if other people could help me drive unemployment down here, I promise you, our casualty figures would not be as high," says Chiarelli, the ground commander of U.S. forces in Iraq for the past year. "Nor would the level of violence be as high as it is today." Chiarelli's call for a new Iraq strategy with an emphasis on jobs and reconstruction, not more troops, came Dec. 12 as he spoke to reporters during an exit interview before handing over his command to Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno.

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