Harry Reid: Maybe Iraq War Isn’t As Lost As I Thought It Was
Here’s yet another indication of just how much change and progress there’s been in Iraq since General David Petraeus took over. Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, speaking a little over four months ago:
“I believe … that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week,” Reid said, on the same day US President George W. Bush was giving a speech at an Ohio town hall meeting defending the war on terror.
Now here’s Harry Reid today:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has backed down from demands for a withdrawal of our troops in Iraq by next spring.
Selling voters on cut and run was always tough, but now a new UPI/Zogby Poll finds that 54% of Americans believe the Iraq war is not lost.
Beyond the achievements of our forces, the public is obviously impressed that Iraq’s five top political leaders have agreed on a series of compromises, including oil wealth distribution and provincial elections.
Since Reid and other Democratic leaders now know that outright surrender is out, they’ve decided to try for whatever they can get. “I don’t think we have to think that our way is the only way,” Reid told the Washington Post, making it clear he now seeks an anti-war alliance with shaky Republicans.
“I’m not saying, ‘Republicans, do what we want to do.’ Just give me something that you think you would like to do, that accomplishes some or all of what I want to do.”
“The war is lost” is a hard statement to back away from. If Reid, Pelosi and most of the rest of the Democrats had their way we’d have bailed on Iraq and the Iraqis (abandoning them to slaughter by al Qaeda terrorists and Iranian-backed insurgents) months ago. As it stands now, we’ve made astounding progress in Iraq on the military front, and as the article above notes the political aspect of Iraq is coming together as well. The Iraqi government is even going to formally request that the US stay beyond the UN’s mandate and build permanent bases.
Meanwhile, always-fickle public opinion is turning around on the war as well.
Make no mistake about it, all of this makes Reid and his fellow Democrats look like…well…their party’s logo. A bunch of partisan jackasses.
