The Anbar achievement
James Forsyth 10:30pm
The transfer of Anbar province to Iraqi control marks another step forward in Iraq. The transformation in Anbar has been quite incredible. Two years ago, no one sane would have predicted that the then heartland of the Sunni insurgency would be peacefully and voluntarily handed over by the United States at the end of August 2008 with the occasion marked by a parade featuring unarmed US troops.
To be sure, there is still much work to be done in Iraq. The situation there is fragile and there appear to be some new problems to confront but there has been a remarkable amount of progress made there in the past year and a bit; the number of attacks has fallen from a hundred and eighty a day in June 2007 to around twenty a day at the beginning of this August. Thinking of Iraq as a total disaster with the only question being how quickly the coalition can leave is simply out of date. It is time for people to update their thinking on Iraq.
PS I’d thoroughly recommend this interview by Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic with Dexter Filkins, one of the New York Times’ Iraq correspondents.
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PJ
September 2nd, 2008 11:05pm Report this commentDavid Petraeus, whom the Democrats tried to smear as "Betray-us", is a military genius.
David Preiser
September 3rd, 2008 1:18am Report this commentThis is what happens when ordinary Muslims learn their own version of Golda Meir's axiom that peace is only possible once they learn to love the lives of their own children more than the deaths of others. Once the BBC's and Michael Moore's beloved "Freedom Fighters" killed enough of their own kind, ordinary Iraqis started to do the math for themselves. It was only a matter of time after that.
cuffleyburgers
September 3rd, 2008 8:07am Report this commentGood news for McCain as well, to his credit he supported the surge - Obama's populist ranting has been shown up for what it is.
CG
September 3rd, 2008 2:35pm Report this commentIt wasn't mainstream Dems who tried to portray him as Betray-us. It was the revolting MoveOn.Org which was condemned by most proper Dems.
David Lindsay
September 3rd, 2008 5:21pm Report this commentWell, whoopee!
Why do you think that was ever an "insurgency" in the first place? An "insurgency" against what? An "insurgency" against whom?
And who do you think that the people of a place that could produce such an "insurgency" will now vote for?
Wilfred
September 3rd, 2008 9:28pm Report this commentDavid Lindsay:
Whoopee?......Whoopee?
What sort of person doesn't like to hear good news coming out of Iraq?
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