Reactions to Bush's speech and plan

Martin Kettle of the Guardian:

[I]t is difficult not to sense a frightening naivety about the practicalities of the operations that are envisaged on the ground, both in Baghdad and Anbar. Granted that these plans appear significantly more practical and militarily realistic than Donald Rumsfeld's original invasion, they nevertheless rest on some Rumsfeldian grand assumptions. The Iraqi army and police will bring order to the Baghdad suburbs. Oh yes? Iraqi forces backed by the five newly deployed US brigades will go door-to-door, street-to-street, suburb-to-suburb bringing confidence and a breathing space to allow reconciliation to take root. Really? No one with any memory of how difficult it was and still is for British soldiers and Northern Ireland police officers to achieve such a goal in west Belfast or the Bogside over the past 40 years will believe that until they can really see it happening.

Paul Reynolds of the BBC News notes that General Patraeus's counterinsurgency manual calls for a long term commitment to building up a government, while Bush's plan hints at a much shorter operation.

The Los Angeles Times quotes a senior administration official voicing skepticism on Maliki's motives.

The Chicago Tribune quotes a retired colonel saying 130,000 troops would be needed in Baghdad to replicate management of similar ethnic conflicts in Eastern Europe.

The Los Angeles Times reports that "gated communities" will be established in Baghdad and maintained once insurgents/militants are cleared out of the area.

Thomas Ricks and Ann Tyson, of the Washington Post, note that urban operations in Baghdad were avoided by the battle planners in 2003.

The biggest question is what will happen in Sadr City. The Financial Times notes:

However, any major military push into Sadr City will probably meet strong resistance from the militias, and spark a popular backlash, turning more of the majority Shia population of Iraq against the US. Until recently, the US military has moved lightly in the sprawling suburb, which may be home to as many as a third of the capital’s six million inhabitants. The influence of Mr Sistani, meanwhile, is also believed to be waning, as the senior cleric over the past year has sought to distance himself from the sectarian conflict.

Whereas Sunnis and even many Shia fear the Mahdi Army, in Sadr City the militiamen are often viewed as neighbourhood heroes doing the job that an ineffective police force cannot, suppressing ordinary crime protecting Shia civilians from car bombs and other attacks carried out by Sunni insurgents.

The president's address can be read here.