WASHINGTON -- The significant decline of violence in Iraq is well
documented: fewer insurgent attacks, far less roadside bombs, fewer
U.S. casualties and little or no sectarian warfare.
Last week, a series of reports by U.S. military officials in Iraq
revealed the dramatic changes that have taken place there. A 55-percent
drop in attacks since the surge offensive began nine months ago.
Overall violence in key areas of Iraq has dropped to its lowest levels
since the summer of 2005. Iraqi civilian casualties have also fallen, a
staggering 60-percent drop since June, down 75 percent in Baghdad alone. Life in much of Iraq has begun to return
to what passes for near normal, though the war is far from over. Yet it
is clear that the American military surge -- begun earlier this year --
is responsible for the changes taking place in this embattled nation
that has become ground zero in the global war on terrorism.
The pessimists and defeatists who declared the surge doomed and
prophesied that we were digging ourselves into a deeper hole have been
proven wrong. The story of Iraq at this point is that terrorists have
been killed, captured or driven out of territory retaken and cleansed
by American and Iraqi forces -- a coalition that has stabilized much of
the country.
But statistics are one thing, and the response of the Iraqi people is
quite another. The most dramatic sign of improvement in Iraq can be
seen in the number of Iraqi refugees who fled the violence at the
height of the war and are now returning home in increasing numbers.
Most of these returning Iraqis do so with the knowledge that their land
is still a dangerous place, that the war is not over and that al-Qaeda
killers still have the power to strike.
But there is a sense that the tide has turned in the Iraqis' favor, at
least for now. There is renewed hope for their country's future, hope
that Iraq will one day be united and safe. Hope can be a very powerful
ally to a people beset by war, imparting a strength that can overcome
seemingly insurmountable challenges, hardships and grief. And little by
little we are beginning to see a rebirth of hope in Iraq.
Perhaps the most important change to emerge from Gen. David Petraeus'
counterinsurgency has been his efforts to cement nationalist alliances
with Shiite and Sunni tribal leaders who have turned against their
common al-Qaeda enemy.
One of the most interesting trends that has followed in the wake of the
offensive has been a growing confidence among many Iraqis, a feeling
that they are responsible for their country's destiny, that they must
fight back when threatened by the thugs and killers in their midst.
When a bullet fired from a trucking convoy struck a young girl in the
foot in a busy commercial area in Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood last
week, a group of Iraqis attacked the suspected assailants, hurling
rocks at them as they hid in the truck. "I love my country. I want
stability to be regained," said one of the men who helped take the
stricken high school student to the hospital, as reported in the
Washington Post.
It turned out the suspects were not responsible for the shooting, but
the incident revealed a newfound courage among common Iraqi citizens, a
realization that they must defend themselves when help is not
available. "We did this because each of those men will kill 30 more
people," one of the Iraqis said, according to the Post.
You would never know that anything had changed for the better in Iraq
if you were listening to the Senate Democrats this month. They refused
to even acknowledge that the situation in Iraq had vastly improved.
Indeed, despite all of the evidence proving that President Bush's surge
has been successful, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid is still pushing
legislation to set a timetable for the quick withdrawal of all U.S.
forces.
Reid and his cohorts do not want to see a successful conclusion to the
war in Iraq. They want a political issue that will fire up their
party's anti-war base in the 2008 election.
But Bush, Petraeus and the Republicans are seeking something very
different. They want to achieve enough progress there, and buy enough
time, to allow the Iraqi military to take over the defense of their
country so that we can start bringing our men and women home.
As of last week, the surge was working better than anyone could have
possibly predicted and the Democrats' political exploitation of the war
as a campaign issue was losing.
Look for the first contingent of U.S. forces to begin coming home by
the end of the year at the earliest -- early next year at the latest.
Source: Townhall.com
Dems in Denial Over Iraq Recovery
By Donald Lambro
Monday, November 26, 2007
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Posted by: Misty Larkin | February 06, 2008 at 09:01 AM