Finally General Petraeus has delivered his sharpest critique ever of the Welfare Kings of Iraq (aka: the Iraq government we fund).

BAGHDAD, March 13 — Iraqi leaders have failed to take advantage of a reduction in violence to make adequate progress toward resolving their political differences, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday.

Petraeus, who is preparing to testify to Congress next month on the Iraq war, said in an interview that “no one” in the U.S. and Iraqi governments “feels that there has been sufficient progress by any means in the area of national reconciliation,” or in the provision of basic public services.

The general’s comments appeared to be his sternest to date on Iraqis’ failure to achieve political reconciliation. In February, following the passage of laws on the budget, provincial elections and an amnesty for certain detainees, Petraeus was more encouraging. “The passage of the three laws today showed that the Iraqi leaders are now taking advantage of the opportunity that coalition and Iraqi troopers fought so hard to provide,” he said at the time.

Petraeus came back to Iraq a year ago to implement a counterinsurgency strategy, backed up by a temporary increase of about 30,000 U.S. troops, intended to reduce violence so Iraqi leaders could pass laws and take other measures to ease the sectarian and political differences that threaten to break the country apart.

The Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has won passage of some legislation that aids the cause of reconciliation, drawing praise from President Bush and his supporters. But the Iraqi government also has deferred action on some of its most important legislative goals, including laws governing the exploitation of Iraq’s oil resources, that the Bush administration had identified as necessary benchmarks of progress toward reconciliation.

Many Iraqi parliament members and other officials acknowledge that the country’s political system is often paralyzed by sectarian divisions, but they also say that American expectations are driven by considerations in Washington and do not reflect the complexity of Iraq’s problems.

In addition to the half trillion dollars we’ve spent on Iraq, that Iraqi government inaction has another, greater cost. The lives of its citizens are the greatest cost of all. For us, it’s the cost of the lives of our troops.

Consider the periods of government change, over the 5 years since Bush ordered the beginning of the war:

In the first six weeks of the war, when Saddam’s government was toppled, 140 US troops died, just over 23 per week.

In the next 32 weeks and 3 days, which is how long it took to capture Saddam, 325 US troops died, just over 10 per week.

Another 122 died by the end of our first year in Iraq. In that 13 weeks and 4 days, that was about 9 troops per week.

The Coalition Provisional Authority turned over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government on June 29, 2004. 271 more US troops died in that 14 weeks and 2 days, US troop deaths escalated to almost 25 per week, worse than the initial 6 week war.

From then till the first Iraq elections on January 30, 2005 - a period of 30 weeks and 5 days - 580 US troops died. That’s nearly 19 per week.

From January 31 through Dec 14, 2005, when Iraq’s General Elections occurred, 715 US troops died. In that 318 days - or 45 weeks and 3 days - about 16 died each week.

From Dec 15, 2005 through January 31, 2007 (about 59 weeks), 933 troops died. That’s also just under 16 per week. (Note that, for 2 years and 1 day, that average of nearly 16 per week was pretty consistent).

The so-called ’surge’, or troop escalation, began February 1st and has continued for 58 weeks. 901 US troops have lost their lives in that period. 15-1/2 troops have died per week, only a minuscule reduction from the pre-surge two years.

However, in the last 196 days, or 28 weeks, since Moqtada al-Sadr ordered a cease-fire to his Shia followers, the US troop deaths have been limited to 249. That’s just about 9 deaths per week, the lowest casualty rate since the first year of the war, during the hunt for Saddam. It was al-Sadr’s action, more than any other factor, that caused that casualty decline. (By comparison, in the 10 weeks prior to al-Sadr’s ceasefire order, while the surge troops were at full strength, 195 troops died, or 19-1/2 per week).

Conclusion: When the CPA was in charge, troop deaths averaged 12 per week. Under any form of Iraqi government since, the average has been closer to 16 to 20 deaths per week. Dumping Defense Secretary Rumsfeld didn’t change that. The surge didn’t change that. The Sunni Awakening Councils didn’t change that. And the current government of Iraq’s lack of decisionmaking hasn’t changed that.

The decisions of Moqtada al-Sadr lowered the US troop casualty rates to match the lowest rates of the entire 5 year period. Yet al-Sadr is not a member of the government. He’s often referred to as a ‘radical cleric.’ And he was. But he’s cut the casualty rates in half with his decisions, while the Iraq government has dawdled, grown fat on our largesse, and demonstrated utter indifference to the lives of our troops and the financial drain on our economy.

As the article notes: “they also say that American expectations are driven by considerations in Washington and do not reflect the complexity of Iraq’s problems.”

The ‘complexity of Iraq’s problems’ is in its government. Its Shia majority just doesn’t want to share power or its oil wealth with the Sunnis. And until they do, their citizens, our troops and our taxpayers pay for the privilege of their refusal to negotiate, their refusal to compromise, and their refusal to give a shit about anything beyond their next welfare check from Uncle George.

And why should they care? After all, if they get their wish, Uncle George will be replaced with Uncle John McCain, who’ll keep them on the dole and keep our troops dying.

We’ve lost 3,987 troops already and by 1 week from now, the 5th anniversary of the start of the war, it likely will be very close to 4,000 US lives spent.

General Petraeus is being much too soft on that do-nothing government. And we’ll also soon be paying $4 per gallon for gasoline with half of that cost the result of oil specualators profiting from the war.

4,000 troops, half a trillion dollars and $4/gallon gasoline. It’s time to take the Iraqi government and the Saudi, Iranian and Russian governments, and all the other war profiteers off the dole.