ANOTHER VERSION OF "THE ORIGINS OF TEH SURGE"

The NYT makes it pretty clear that it wasn't only Maliki's idea. That leaves the neo-cons, especially William J. Luti and retired Gen. Keane. (Note that Hannah worked for Cheney.)

Troop ‘Surge’ Took Place Amid Doubt and Debate
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: August 30, 2008
NY Times

Members of the National Security Council staff made an initial effort to explore a possible troop increase by October, drafting a paper that raised the prospect that the United States might “double down” in Iraq by sending more troops there.

Because some aides to the Joint Chiefs of Staff were suggesting at the time that the military was stretched too thin to send many more troops, another security council staff member, William J. Luti, a retired Navy captain, was asked to quietly determine whether forces were available. Mr. Luti reported that five brigades’ worth of additional combat forces could be sent and recommended that they be deployed.

The idea later won additional support among some officials as a result of a detailed study Gen. Jack Keane, the former vice chief of staff at the Army, and Frederick W. Kagan, a military specialist, that was published by the American Enterprise Institute

A Dec. 28 National Security Council meeting had been arranged at Mr. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Tex. General Keane was concerned that General Pace might ask only for the two brigades recommended by General Casey, with three more held in reserve. General Keane called Mr. Hannah and said that General Pace should be asked if he thought such a small deployment would be decisive. That meeting confirmed the need to send more troops to Anbar Province and all but affirmed the plan to send five more brigades to Baghdad.