Good News On Its Way From Iraq
In the person of General David Petraeus:
GENERAL David Petraeus, who leads the US military in Iraq, will report to Congress next month on his troop surge, in which almost 30,000 extra soldiers have been drafted into the five-year conflict.
No one knows what he will say; not even President George Bush gets a preview. But the news is expected to be good or at least better than anything else that has come out of Iraq since the invasion.
Violence overall is down about 60% on last year. Al-Qaeda is on the run, its former allies among Iraq’s Sunni Muslims having turned against it. Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim militias are on a voluntary ceasefire, thanks to the cowing of their al-Qaeda enemies. And many ordinary Iraqis finally feel like things may be turning the corner.
Liberals will undoubtedly cry “Bbbbut...what about the political progress.” And the answer to that is: You weren’t willing to wait for military progress, why should we be surprised that you aren’t willing to wait for the political progress.
Especially given that one was meant to precede the other. The surge was meant to dramatically lower violence in order to clear the way for political progress. Now that the first of those two steps have been completed we can await progress on the other. Admittedly, it is slow in coming, but that doesn’t mean it won’t come nor does it mean we should grow impatient and abandon the mission altogether.
robert108
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