Things have been looking a bit brighter in Iraq this summer. Commanders and some independent observers report that the “surge” of 30,000 more U.S. troops has tamped down the violence, particularly in Baghdad. Some tribal Sunni sheiks have turned against al-Qaeda, particularly in volatile Anbar province. Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has said that his Mahdi Army militia is suspending fighting for six months. No wonder U.S. opinion polls show greater optimism, or at least less pessimism, about the Iraq war.
President Bush has been out making speeches capitalizing on the sunnier mood and playing down the Iraqi failure to meet most political benchmarks (even though he earlier vowed to hold Iraqi leaders to them). In mid-September, the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, are expected to report to Congress that the military effort has been succeeding, despite lagging political progress. Then the White House is expected to seek extra time and money to extend the surge through next spring.
Any reduction in violence in Iraq, and any setbacks for al-Qaeda, are to be celebrated and encouraged. But, like a discordant strain intruding on a piece of music, two new reports provide an important reality check on any perceptions that victory might finally be just around the corner.
Why the scare-quotes around the word [i] Victory [/i] ? It implies that any victory would not quite be genuine.
Why not instead put scare-quotes around the word [i] News [/i] , since there have been a number of examples lately, of reporters’ biases coloring their reportage?
Also, if “United States has neither the stamina nor the resources to keep going for that long [10 years] “, then we might as well submit to Islam now, because it is going to take longer than that to defeat the [i] jihadi [/i] trying to murder us.
[And now, I grudgingly press the “submit” button to post this comment….]
I assume those who oppose our extended stay in Iraq are also out there protesting our extended presence in the Balkans, in South Korea, and in western Europe. And of course they oppose any action for Darfur.
I believe the “war†in Iraq has been won, for quite some time now, but we will continue to see acts of violence indefinitely. The reality of the situations is that a few lunatic fanatics can disrupt the peace of a million people. That’s why we call it terrorism. Anybody remember the sniper incidents in the USA? And look at what just two bombers did to disrupt the entire nation of Pakistan yesterday.
I am in favor of what we are doing in Iraq. Our son served a year there, and we are proud of him. I think the US and all coalition military should start pulling out and be gradually replaced with an international police force, uniformed and in plain clothes. We are not fighting a military that wears uniforms and drives tanks. These are just a bunch of mafia-style thugs who are using their religion as an excuse to destabilize the area to gain control over the oil. Period. To call them anything else is a compliment they do not merit.
As soon as the people of Iraq start to feel that the war is over, and when they want to get on with their lives in peace, they will cooperate with the legitimate authorities and help them put a stop to the violence; or at least minimize it. We may never see what we in the West call peace in this area of the world. It is just too messed up.
It remains utterly fascinating to me that NO ONE calls the Democrats on their mantra that we must leave Iraq, now, even though we are at war with Al-Qaeda–which is in . . .Iraq
I would like to hear from Clinton and Obama how they propose to defeat Al-Qaeda by cowardly running away from the battlefield.
The war against the Saddam government was won decisively by the US. The current “war” is simply police protection for an Iraqi government that lacks credibility in the eyes of most Iraqis.
“Al Qaida” was a training school for militants run by Islamic ascetics in the Afghan wilderness. The US destroyed it. “Al Qaida In Iraq” is the name taken by a collection of Wahabbists from various places. They are a very small percentage of the insurgency in Iraq. We should be paying the Sunni and Shia militias a bounty for every Wahabbist they string up.
Katherine,
Yes, I am opposed to paying for other people’s national defense in all those places you mention.