Home > The Magazine > Features

Tuesday 7 October 2008

Dare to dream and make your ultimate trip a reality

The latest culture as recommended by our staff

Michael Henderson

Michael Henderson suggests

Email registration

Free weekly email update

Great products and special offers for Spectator readers

Click here for great value events

Click here for exclusive articles, offers, tasting notes and discussion

The Sunni side of Tikrit

The Sunni side of Tikrit: progress in Iraq

Paul Wood

Wednesday, 14th November 2007

Where people are turning to the Coalition for protection

But the sergeants worked like clockwork, bringing the medic up, sweeping up and down the road for the single sniper, who was probably already long gone. Their efficiency was born of long experience. It was the third deployment to Iraq for all the NCOs in the platoon, one told me later, and at the end of this 15 months, all but one would be leaving the army. Their wives would not stand for another long tour.

While units like the 101st Airborne are still getting enough raw young recruits, the junior officers and experienced NCOs are haemorrhaging away. More than the loudly ticking political clock in Washington, it is the pressures on the army itself which will force the Coalition to draw down in Iraq, whatever the conditions on the ground.Â

The Americans have always found the conflict in Iraq frustratingly mercurial; first it was looting and general anarchy; then Baathist ‘dead-enders’; then al-Qa’eda; then a nationalist Sunni ‘resistance’; then a Shia uprising; now it is a sectarian near-civil war, Iranian-backed militias and a simmering intra-Shia conflict. But the surge in Baghdad does seems to be dampening down the sectarian killing and the gains in the Sunni areas, while not irreversible, are real.

For the first time in a long time, the Coalition can credibly claim that things are moving in the right direction. The Sunni vigilantes, the divided police force and Rambo-style Iraqi army officers, along with the kidnapping, the crime and the tribal fighting: this is what victory looks like in Iraq. Next year, the Americans will declare it so, and some will start to come home.

Previous page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

More articles from: Paul Wood | this section

Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comment

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Georgia and Ukraine should be allowed to join Nato - Debate report

Lloyd Evans

Lloyd Evans on the latest Spectator / Intelligence Squared debate

Clinton Democrats are to blame for the credit crunch

Dennis Sewell

Our current financial turmoil is not the fault of greedy bankers, says Dennis Sewell. In fact, the banks were bullied into lowering their lending standards by left-wing idealists intent on equal opportunities at any cost

Sex, lies and apparitions

Simon Caldwell

Millions travel to Medjugorje each year but, says Simon Caldwell, the world-famous pilgrimage site may soon be exposed as a fraud

I’m proud to be famous for being rude

Giles Coren

Swearing and shouting are underrated, says Giles Coren. Four-letter words can be immensely satisfying and extraordinarily effective

The masters of the universe have turned to drink

Venetia Thompson

The failure of the $700 billion bail-out has driven her former City-boy chums to despair, says Venetia Thompson. But they must rally soon to keep the market moving

Here’s how McCain can beat Obama to the White House

Reihan Salam

The acclaimed young Republican writer, Reihan Salam, says that McCain can win the presidency if he appeals relentlessly to the non-college-educated white middle class, pursues family-friendly tax reform and stands for global peace through American strength

America is still the nation whose eyes say ‘yes’

Douglas Murray

Douglas Murray tours a country despondent about its presidential race and increasingly uncertain about Barack Obama. Yet the world still needs America’s strengths

Don’t mention the Afghan–Pakistan war

Fraser Nelson

Both Britain and America are reluctant to admit it but, says Fraser Nelson, our most pressing foreign policy problem is what to do about Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state in which terrorists have taken sanctuary

The Establishment paedophile: how a monster hid in high society

Charlotte Metcalf

Roger Took was a pillar of academia, with an enviable Chelsea address. He was also a vicious paedophile. Charlotte Metcalf shows how the veneer of social respectability can protect even the worst offenders

Obama and McCain offer a choice, not an echo

Irwin Stelzer

This presidential race will be the first real Right v. Left contest in a long time, says Irwin Stelzer. On free trade, healthcare, tax and pariah regimes, the two men are worlds apart