At the beginning of the month, the Iraqi police captured almost 9,000 pieces of ordinance, thus preventing more than 200 possible vehicle-borne-improvised-explosive-device attacks:
Through the help of local Iraqi citizens looking out for the safety and well being of their community, the police received information on the location of the cache.
"The Iraqi Police are 100 percent responsible for finding this cache," said Staff Sgt. Robert Fertal, 26, platoon sergeant with 2nd. Plt., Co. E. "Their hard work and sacrifice has created an environment where Iraqi nationals freely offer information. This information has led to several smaller caches and explosive remnants of war (ERW) finds, as well as the large one." . . .
"This find demonstrates the post PIC (Provincial Iraqi Control) capabilities of an Iraqi Police force in the lead, using its own intelligence to take the fight to the enemy by depriving him of a significant supply of ammunition," said Lt. Col. Steven J. Grass, the battalion commander of TF 2nd Bn., 2nd Marines. "It was a big win."
Didn't see that reported by the MSM, did you?
Washington Post's Peter Carlson starts off by telling us how great it is in Ramadi. I mean, how really, really great it is:
When David J. Morris returned to Ramadi in October, he was mobbed by Iraqis. But this time they weren't trying to kill him, they were trying to sell him bars of Dove soap.
Street vendors in Ramadi? It blew his mind. For years, Ramadi vied with Fallujah as the toughest, deadliest hellhole in Iraq and now, Morris writes in a brilliant piece in the Virginia Quarterly Review, you can walk the streets like a tourist, fearing only "the platoons of vendors assaulting you."
Of course, Carlson's real purpose for the entire article is to praise a fellow journalist and direct readers to peruse the Virginia Quarterly Review. He even goes as far to try and question the "surge" (scare quotes included):
The Bush administration and its supporters tout the turnaround of Ramadi as proof that the "surge" is working. Antiwar critics wonder how long the sheiks will remain friendly.
Still, you can't come away from the article without feeling that things are going well in Iraq. And the thoughtful reader will know that whatever the reason, it certainly isn't due to Democrat's forced withdrawal deadlines.
Holy cow, the situation must actually be proving in Iraq because even the Associated Press admits that the first signs of hope are appearing in Iraq:
Thousands of Iraqis who fled the country are now returning. Areas of Baghdad that were ghost towns only a few months ago are reviving. Shoppers stroll the streets with their children.
"I think next year will be better because the situation is improving every day," said Firas Adel, a Shiite clothing merchant. "More people are returning to their homes and businesses. There is sense of safety and stability, and this will boost the economy."
The AP article even credits success to President's Bush's decision to implement the surge. How times have changed!
Changing times indeed in Iraq, as the NY Sun reports the other Iraqi surge:
According to the not-quite-closed record book for 2007, Iraqi sovereign bonds, the Iraqi currency, and the Iraqi stock market have each logged astounding, not to mention politically provocative, gains.
General Petraeus penned a letter (reproduced in totality by the IBD) that was distributed to the men and women under his command. In it he congratulates them for their successes and cautions that the fight will continue to be one fought on a daily basis for some time.
In places like Ramadi, Baqubah, Arab Jabour and Baghdad, you and our Iraqi brothers fought — often house by house, block by block, and neighborhood by neighborhood — to wrest sanctuaries away from al-Qaida-Iraq, to disrupt extremist militia elements and to rid the streets of mafialike criminals.
Having cleared areas, you worked with Iraqis to retain them — establishing outposts in the areas we were securing, developing Iraqi security forces and empowering locals to help our efforts. . . .
As you and your Iraqi partners turn concepts into reality, additional progress will emerge slowly and fitfully. Over time, we will gradually see fewer bad days and accumulate more good days, good weeks and good months.
Oliver North tells us that we should be thankful for the Christmas present that our fighting troops have delivered to us:
So, your Christmas present — the triumph we now witness in Iraq — is not quite finished, but the troops are sending it to you anyway. This country's neighbors are less than enthusiastic about a democracy next door. We have seen the sophisticated IEDs and rockets that Iran builds and sends into Iraq to kill and maim. Though Iraqi oil production now exceeds pre-2003 levels, the democratically elected government in Baghdad isn't doing enough to rebuild the country's crumbling infrastructure. From the ground up, this country is being transformed more rapidly than anyone believed possible and America is gaining a new ally in the struggle against radical Islamic terror.
Is North's assessment accurate? Will democracy prevail in Iraq? To answer that, I offer an article penned by one in academia:
For the past two years, I have taught a course on the Iraq war -- first at the graduate level at The New School university in New York, and now at the undergraduate level at my new home at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. . . .
And while my students are usually skeptical about the prospects of success, my own view is more positive: Iraqi democracy is on the right track. As it continues to develop in the decades to come, George W. Bush's war will be vindicated.
I highly recommend the analysis that the professor goes on to lay out.
As for the soldiers that are fighting "Bush's war", some will soon have two bowling lanes laid out on Iraqi sands:
Doyle Claxton owns United Bowling Center in Yulee. "We were approached a couple months ago by email by a soldier in Iraq and he asked us how he could get some bowling lanes."
Not only is Claxton sending two lanes to Iraq from his warehouse, he's doing it for free.
"When I heard they were going to put plywood on the sand to bowl, it broke my heart."
As for me this Christmas season, I am proud of my country for deposing a bloodthirsty tyrant, and grateful for the men and women who volunteer to give their all for their country. I'm also more than a little pleased that people like Doyle Claxton exist, taking the time to bring a little bit of home to those so far away during this time of year, usually reserved for families.
Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard points out that the 2007 Man of the Year should have been General David Petraeus.
Time ludicrously chose to make Russia's ex-KGB agent-turned president Vladimir Putin its cover boy. They just couldn't make Petraeus man--oops--person of the year. Our liberal elites are so invested in a narrative of defeat and disaster in Iraq that to acknowledge the prospect of victory would be too head-wrenching and heart-rending. It would mean giving credit to George W. Bush, for one. And it would mean acknowledging American success in a war Time, and the Democratic party, and the liberal elites, had proclaimed lost. . . .
The reality is also this: The counterinsurgency campaign that Petraeus and Odierno conceived and executed in 2007 was as comprehensive a counterinsurgency strategy as has ever been executed. The heart of the strategy was a brilliant series of coordinated military operations throughout the entire theater. Petraeus and Odierno used conventional U.S. forces, Iraqi military and police, and Iraqi and U.S. Special Operations forces to strike enemy strongholds throughout Iraq simultaneously, while also working to protect the local populations from enemy responses. Successive operations across the theater knocked the enemy--both al Qaeda and Sunni militias, and Shia extremists--off balance and then prevented them from recovering. U.S. and Iraqi forces, supported by local citizens, chased the enemy from area to area, never allowing them the breathing space to reestablish safe havens, much less new bases. It wasn't "whack-a-mole" or "squeezing the water balloon" as some feared (and initially claimed)--it was the relentless pursuit of an increasingly defeated enemy.
The latest proof of progress in Iraq comes from al Qaeda itself:
The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq called on militants in a new audiotape Saturday to kill Sunnis who have joined forces with the U.S. to battle extremists in the war-torn country.
When Muslims call on Muslims to kill Muslims and not readily available Americans, you know things have changed.
And by the way, the radical terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq has posted a confirmation of Abu Maysara's death on their web site. Maysara is just one of the nine senior al Qaeda members that the US military killed in Iraq during November.
Finally in today's news from Iraq, Christians are returning to celebrate Christmas in a section of Baghdad that was recently a self-declared al-Qaeda caliphate.
Now, in a significant success for the US troop surge, al-Qaeda has been rooted out of Doura and the hundreds of Christian families who left the area are returning. On Christmas Day, they will congregate in battle-scarred St Mary's Church, where part of the crucifix on its tower is still missing after being shot at by terrorists. . . .
Major Kirk Luedeke, a spokesman for the US Army's 1st Infantry Division, confirmed that Christian families were returning. "What is more important is that the Muslim tribal leaders are openly showing support for their Christian neighbours," he added.
As time goes on, tales like this will become the norm. And in turn, Iraq will become every bit a symbol of progress and freedom in the Middle East as is Israel.
It may have taken Bush three long years to find his general, but find him he did. And Petraeus is indeed the 2007 Man of the Year. No matter what Time says.
Mona Charen writing at NRO tells us about Magdi Khalil, an Egyptian political pundit that argues for America in the Middle East media. She includes a few quotes from a debate he participated in on Al Jazeera. When the moderator stated that the US was only interested in stopping the genocide taking place in Dufar because of the oil, Khalil responds:
That’s all nonsense. That deceiving propaganda is all around you — oil and all that. Do you know how much was spent on Iraq? Even if America were to take Iraq’s oil for the next 200 years, it would not compensate for what it has spent on Iraq. You are used to spreading delusions, lies and deceiving propaganda. Give us one example when you supported human rights in any country?
Well put!
A detailed look at how the military has attempted to rise to the challenge of the deadliest component modern urban warfare. For once, WaPo impresses.
Liberals often like to say that "violence is senseless."
That’s wrong.
Violence isn't senseless. Senseless violence is senseless. And I should know. Before being awarded the Navy Cross and having the privilege of becoming a Marine, I was a gang member. Sometimes it takes having used violence for both evil as well as good to know that there's a profound moral difference between the two.
Read it all, straight through to the money quote.
Fredrick Kagan writes about the tide turning in Iraq and GW's visit today, calling it the Gettysburg of This War:
Instead of flying into Baghdad and surrounding himself with his generals and the Iraqi government, Bush flew to al Asad airfield, west of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province. He brought with him his secretaries of State and Defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the commander of U.S. Central Command. He was met at al Asad by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kemal al Maliki, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and Vice Presidents Adel Abdul Mehdi and Tariq al Hashemi. In other words, Bush called together all of the leading political and military figures in his administration and the Iraqi government in the heart of Anbar Province. If ever there was a sign that we have turned a corner in the fight against both al Qaeda in Iraq and the Sunni insurgency, this was it.
In writing this article, Kagan hints at a comparison between Lincoln and GW Bush. Given that our nation is bitterly divided, as it was during the civil war, and given the number of souls freed by each man, the comparison may be more apt than most will admit.
One of the truly reasonable, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, says the surge is working:
Thanks to Gen. David Petraeus's new counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, and the strength and skill of the American soldiers fighting there, al Qaeda in Iraq is now being routed from its former strongholds in Anbar and Diyala provinces. Many of Iraq's Sunni Arabs, meanwhile, are uniting with us against al Qaeda, alienated by the barbarism and brutality of their erstwhile allies.
As Gen. Petraeus recently said of al Qaeda in Iraq: "We have them off plan."
Even oft-barking moonbat Sen. Levin joins with Sen. John Warner in praising the surge upon their return from a fact-finding mission in Iraq:
"We have seen indications that the surge of additional brigades to Baghdad and its immediate vicinity and the revitalized counter-insurgency strategy being employed have produced tangible results in making several areas of the capital more secure. We are also encouraged by continuing positive results — in al-Anbar Province, from the recent decisions of some of the Sunni tribes to turn against Al Qaeda and cooperate with coalition force efforts to kill or capture its adherents," the two said in a statement issued after leaving the country.
But don't look for the left to embrace this viewpoint. Or even to acknowledge it.
CBS is "framing the argument" against Gen. Petraeus, and the UK Times boldly prints a Democrat think tank quote in the headline, calling him ‘General Betraeus’.
Meanwhile a Reuters headline scream, U.S. foreign policy experts oppose Bush's surge and we are told:
More than half of top U.S. foreign policy experts oppose President George W. Bush's troop increase as a strategy for stabilizing Baghdad, saying the plan has harmed U.S. national security, according to a new survey.
Upon closer inspection, we see that the "survey" was conducted by the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy magazine. For the uninitiated, CAP is the brainchild of socialist George Soros and Clintonista John Podesta. And Foreign Policy magazine is financed by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, another lefty think tank that maintains offices in Beijing, Beirut, Brussels, Moscow and Washington and was once headed up by Soviet spy Alger Hiss.
Finally, courtesy of the limousine liberals of Hollywood, will be a deluge of propaganda aimed at the American voter:
Encouraged by widespread opposition to the conflict in Iraq, Hollywood filmmakers are preparing to unleash an unprecedented wave of war movies on cinemagoers.
That should, of course, read "wave of anti-war movies".
So to counter the left, please go read The Surge in Action. Money quote:
"People ask me, 'Is the surge working?'," Colonel Wayne Grigsby, 3rd Brigade commander, said to me. "And I say, 'How can it not be?' We're in these areas that no soldiers have been for months and years, we've got al Qaeda , JAM , and JAI discombobulated, and we're showing the people there--people who might not have seen an American soldier in years--a sustained presence, catching bad guys, building checkpoints, and making life safer for them."
"Again, I say, 'How can it not be working?'"
Precisely.
Precursor to the Terminator series? Who's to say? But what was once saving lives as a bomb disposal robot has been retooled to 
carry weapons for combat. Pictured is a SWORDS* bot, 3 of which have been deployed to Iraq. None have fired a shot to date, but expect that to change.
They are designed to be used in high-risk situations, like scouting narrow streets infested with snipers before a foot patrol is sent in. Major Saitta, a consultant for the program, nails it when he says:
Anytime you utilize technology to take a U.S. service member out of harm’s way, it is worth every penny.
Although these metal soldiers were ready to go in 2004, they had a tendency to spin out of control from time to time. As this isn't exactly desirable during a firefight, they were kept at home while work continued. But now, according to Danger Room:
So the radio-controlled robots were retooled, for greater safety. In the past, weak signals would keep the robots from getting orders for as much as eight seconds -- a significant lag during combat. Now, the SWORDS won't act on a command, unless it's received right away. A three-part arming process -- with both physical and electronic safeties -- is required before firing. Most importantly, the machines now come with kill switches, in case there's any odd behavior. "So now we can kill the unit if it goes crazy," Zecca says.
Danger Room also has a video from Future Weapons, while Gizmodo has additional pictures. Via Digg.
* special weapons observation remote reconnaissance direct action system
J.R. Dunn, writing in American Thinker, says that even if the legacy media is ignoring it, there is no denying that the surge is working. Read at least the first half of the article (students of military history will want to read the whole thing), but here's a taste:
It appears that Gen. David Petreaus has discovered the correct strategy for Iraq: engaging the Jihadis all over the map as close to simultaneously as possible. Keeping them on the run constantly, giving them no place to stand, rest or refit. Increasing operational tempo to an extent that they cannot match ("Getting inside their decision cycle", as the 4th generation warfare school would call it), leaving them harried, uncertain, and apt to make mistakes.
The surge is more of a refinement than a novelty. Earlier Coalition efforts were not in error as much as they were incomplete. American troops would clean out an area, turn it over to an Iraqi unit, and depart. The Jihadis would then push out the unseasoned Iraqis and return to business. This occurred in Fallujah, Tall Afar, and endless times in Ramadi.
Now U.S. troops are remaining on site, which reassures the locals and encourages cooperation.
Now if you want some news from the actual front (not a hotel room in Baghdad), read In the Wake of the Surge from Michael J. Totten. Read it all, but again, here's a taste:
“This is not what I expected in Baghdad,” I said.
“Most of what we’re doing doesn’t get reported in the media,” he said. “We’re not fighting a war here anymore, not in this area. We’ve moved way beyond that stage. We built a soccer field for the kids, bought all kinds of equipment, bought them school books and even chalk. Soon we’re installing 1,500 solar street lamps so they have light at night and can take some of the load off the power grid. The media only covers the gruesome stuff. We go to the sheiks and say hey man, what kind of projects do you want in this area? They give us a list and we submit the paperwork. When the projects get approved, we give them the money and help them buy stuff.”
Not everything they do is humanitarian work, unless you consider counter-terrorism humanitarian work. In my view, you should. Few Westerners think of personal security as a human right, but if you show up in Baghdad I’ll bet you will. Personal security may, in fact, be the most important human right. Without it the others mean little. People aren’t free if they have to hide in their homes from death squads and car bombs.
That last paragraph speaks to me, what with me being a Second Amendment freak and all.
. . . have never been spoken. Kathryn Jean Lopez says severed heads beat report cards to the truth:
Nailing down a clear picture of the war in Iraq is a work in progress in Washington, D.C. Making it harder is the national media, which is misrepresenting what is happening at boot level, softening the face of the enemy.
If the public cannot get a true view of the brutality and horror the enemy is capable of, then how can it be expected to reasonably assess our involvement?
The Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom has released the early results of their upcoming Religious Freedom in the World 2007. Some highlights:
Marshall also pointed out that some tyrannies, and their apologists in the West, prioritize "economic rights" and supposed "Asian" and "Islamic" values over religious freedom for individuals. But non-Western and historically poor countries such as Mongolia, Thailand, Mali and Senegal have achieved relative religious freedom, without sacrificing their culture or their religion. "It is a moral travesty of the highest order to maintain that because people are hungry or cold it is legitimate to repress their beliefs as well," Marshall riposted.
So who did the best? The top "free countries" were:
| Country | Religious Freedom | Political Rights (PR) | Civil Liberties (CL) |
| Estonia | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Hungary | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ireland | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| United States | 1 | 1 | 1 |
And the most repressive places on Earth:
| Country | Religious Freedom | Political Rights (PR) | Civil Liberties (CL) |
| Belarus | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| China | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| Iran | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| Iraq | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| Libya | 5 | 7 | 7 |
| Cuba | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| Eritrea | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Saudi Arabia | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Burma | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| China-Tibet | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| North Korea | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Sudan | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Turkmenistan | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Uzbekistan | 7 | 7 | 7 |
The real debate over Iraq is between those who think the fight is lost -- or not worth the cost -- and those who believe the fight can be won and as difficult as the fight is, the cost of defeat would be far higher.
— President Bush, 12 July 2007
As to what to do about it, I think I'll wait for General Petraeus' presentation to Congress this September. Dems, on the other hand, are locked in to their "rush to surrender".
Four days ago, Michael Yon covered an al Qaeda massacre in a small village in Iraq:
Soldiers from 5th IA [Iraqi Army] said al Qaeda had cut the heads off the children. Had al Qaeda murdered the children in front of their parents? Maybe it had been the other way around: maybe they had murdered the parents in front of the children. Maybe they had forced the father to dig the graves of his children.
Yon's latest dispatch addresses the fact that the MSM has studiously avoided reporting the tragedy:
But for those publications who actually had people embedded in Baqubah when the story first broke and still failed to cover it, their malaise is inexplicable. I do not know why all failed to report the murders and booby-trapped village: apparently no reporters bothered to go out there, even though it’s only about 3.5 miles from this base. Any one of the reporters currently in Baqubah could still go to these coordinates and follow his or her nose and find the gravesites. . . .
If much of mainstream media does not recognize barbarity, clearly their readers can and do. Readers throughout the world might consider contacting their local papers and favorite websites with the link to this update. The story is very important in that it is well-documented with photos and video, and the Iraqi and American soldiers who were present are named and easily reachable. Those mainstream reporters currently in Baqubah could readily take up the baton.
The UK Daily Mail prints an article written by a Muslim that was at one time an actual member of the network that planned and attempted to execute the recent bombings in London and Glasgow:
When I was still a member of what is probably best termed the British Jihadi Network - a series of British Muslim terrorist groups linked by a single ideology - I remember how we used to laugh in celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was Western foreign policy.
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair's bombs" line did our propaganda work for us. More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
As we celebrate our freedom in this country, it is important to remember that there is evil in this world whose objective is to destroy us, that we have young men and women fighting that evil as they help rebuild a nation that is experiencing that evil every day.
Support Michael Yon as he brings us the truth.
Support those who sacrifice by giving to these charities rated A+ by the American Institute of Philanthropy:
Memorial Day grew out of the horror of the great Civil War which ripped this nation asunder. It is a day that has been set aside that we may remember our fallen heroes, those that have died while defending our noble experiment, the greatest nation in the history of Man.
This is the sixth Memorial Day in a row in which we find our nation confronting a great evil. While liberals moan about keeping Islamofascists locked up on a Caribbean island, our soldiers are kicking down doors in Iraq to find torture chambers.
A recent raid on an al-Qaeda safe house turned up crude instruments of torture and an instruction manual that graphically depicts how they are to be applied, such as using a power drill to drill through a hand or applying a hot iron or even a blowtorch to the skin. The instructions do not tell captors to provide religious materials, legal counsel or cultural-specific meals. They do show how to break limbs and gouge an eye from its socket.A month ago five people were rescued from just such a torture house, one of them a mere boy and all of them beaten daily with chains and cables. This is the evil that the enemy brought to our shores.
Makes "waterboarding" look like a walk in the park, doesn't it? Makes getting your picture taken with a collar on and girl holding the end of a leash a little tame, doesn't it. The media is virtually ignoring the story of the al-Qaeda torture manual and victims rescued. It does not fit their agenda the way that months of Abu Ghraib coverage furthered their cause.
Similarly, the media is under-reporting the freeing of 42 Iraqis, one as young as 14, from an al-Qaeda prison. Some had been held as long as four months, suspended from ceilings, beaten and tortured. Some had broken bones.
Our troops are doing good things in Iraq.
On this Memorial Day we should remember all our soldiers, active and retired, alive and deceased. We should be grateful to those who have given their all and support those currently facing the horrors of war.
I encourage you to fly an American flag in memory of soldiers no longer with us, and open your hearts and wallets to support today's soldiers and their families. Some suggestions:
Disabled American Vets
Operation Gratitude (Read a news story about Operation Gratitude)
Adopt a Platoon
Treats for Troops
Operation Top Knot
Fisher House
Operation Hero Miles
Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund
USO
Alternatively (or in addition to), you can support former Green Beret and current photojournalist Michael Yon as he publishes the most unbiased truth about the situation in Iraq.
After months of chest beating and talking tough, Democrats are withdrawing the entire timetable requirement from the Iraq funding legislation:
War opponents had hoped that Democratic control of Congress would force a swift end to the Iraq conflict. But the package requires Bush to surrender virtually none of his war authority. Instead of withdrawal dates, Democrats accepted a GOP plan to establish 18 benchmarks for the Iraqi government and to require Bush to report on progress starting in late July. If the Iraqis fall short, they could forfeit U.S. reconstruction aid.
In the finest of French traditions, Democrat Harry Reid tries to claim victory:
"For heaven's sake, look where we've come," Reid said. "It's a lot more than the president ever expected he'd have to agree to."
Yeah, way to throw your weight around now that your party controls both houses of congress. Such behavior makes Bill Frist look like John Wayne!
Bob Kerry, the former Democrat Senator from Nebraska writes an op/ed about The Left's Iraq Muddle, stating "yes, it is central to the fight against Islamic radicalism":
The U.S. led an invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein because Iraq was rightly seen as a threat following Sept. 11, 2001. For two decades we had suffered attacks by radical Islamic groups but were lulled into a false sense of complacency because all previous attacks were "over there." It was our nation and our people who had been identified by Osama bin Laden as the "head of the snake." But suddenly Middle Eastern radicals had demonstrated extraordinary capacity to reach our shores.
Hat Tip to non-blogging Advised by Wolves.
President Bush has vetoed the shameless Democrat surrender monkey legislation that would let the terrorists know when they can safely take over Iraq.
Or, at least, Mary Katharine Ham puts her answer to Reid's "the war is lost" defeatism to poetry ala "Green Eggs and Ham".
You will remember that when CNN's Dana Bash asked Harry Reid if he would believe General Petraeus if he testified that progress is being made in Iraq, the Majority Leader answered:
No, I don’t believe him, because it’s not happening.
In the face of blind arrogance, it seems to me that Seussian prose is exactly the way to frame this debate. Good job Mary Katharine!
From a long but fascinating interview over at RedState with Colonel Michael Everett:
If Osama bin Laden stood up and said "Here's my timetable for withdrawing from Iraq" it would be of significant benefit to us both tactically and strategically.
Indeed, just imagine how successful we'd be if we knew the enemy's plan ahead of time. Why can't Democrats see what they are doing to our soldiers?
... because of verbiage like this in posts called cool things like Sweeeet! Democrats Declare Peace:
I haven’t heard of a plan this crystal clear since my seven-year-old told me we should ask all the bad people to be nicer. ...
Oh, and by the way, only a nation of douchebag pussies would dare call Iraq a “disaster”, or even “going badly.” Going badly? The Battle of the Bulge was “going badly”, and even there, there was really no chance we wouldn’t finally turn it around and kick ass. It was– and is– absolutely inevitable. Unstoppable.
Michael Yon's latest post is the first of a two part series: Desires of the Human Heart
Combat soldiers can sleep anywhere: leaning curled in hallway steps, with bricks as pillows. With practically nobody here to tell the stories of their hard work, sacrifice and heartening professionalism, we have left our soldiers behind in this war.
How did I miss this? Tabula Rasa from Michael Yon, the unvarnished truth in a world that is, sadly, short on unbiased reporting.
Hat Tip to non-blogging Fourth Horseman who says, "Long, but worth it."
Al Quida terrorists used children to bait a trap, and murdered them when the trap was sprung.
US soldiers let a vehicle through a checkpoint when they saw two children sitting in the back. The vehicle then parked next to a market, across the street from a school:
"And the two adults were seen to get out of the vehicle, and run from the vehicle, and then followed by the detonation of the vehicle," the official said.
"It killed the two children inside as well as three other civilians in the vicinity. So, a total of five killed, seven injured," the official said. . . .
"The brutality and the ruthlessness of this enemy hasn't changed," said Barbero, deputy director of regional operations of the Joint Staff. "They are just interested in slaughtering Iraqi civilians, to be very honest."
What does the enemy have to do before the AFP stops calling them "insurgents"?
Hat Tip to Power Line, via non-blogging Advised by Wolves.
From Vanderleun:
Four years into the most gentle war ever fought, a war fought on the cheap at every level, a war fought to avoid civilian harm rather than maximize it. Picnic on the grass at Shiloh. Walk the Western Front. Speak to the smoke of Dresden. Kneel down and peek into the ovens of Auschwitz. Sit on the stones near ground zero at Hiroshima and converse with the shadows singed into the wall. Listen to those ghost whisperers of war.
Four years in and the people of the Perfect World ramble through the avenues of Washington, stamping their feet and holding their breath, having their tantrums, and telling all who cannot avoid listening that "War is bad for children and other living things." They have flowers painted on their cheeks. For emphasis. Just in case you thought that war was good for children and other living things.
There were children and other living things on the planes that flew into the towers. They all went into the fire and the ash just the same. But they, now, are not important. Nor is the message their deaths still send us when we listen. That message is to be silenced. The rising brand new message is "All we are say-ing is give...." And it is always off-key.
Read it all. Hat Tip to Dissecting Leftism.
.
Iraq the Model wonders if Iran’s honeymoon in Iraq over:
But a number of interesting developments in Iraq in the last few weeks may mark the beginning of failure for Iran’s plan. The developments listed here were collected from both large and small stories in local Iraq newspapers. Perhaps none of them are significant alone, but putting the pieces together allows one to sense that a sea change is underway in this country and the tide is moving against Iran.
An interesting read, especially when he theorizes that militias loyal to Iran will soon escalate their activities, especially outside Baghdad, as Iran tries to recover the dream of a satellite Islamic state in Iraq.
Hat Tip to non-blogging Advised by Wolves.
Courtesy of the office of Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, a rather nice montage of clips showing the Right side of the debate about the meaningless "non-binding resolution" on Iraq:
I like the inclusion of Kennedy in there. Nice job.
So now al-Qaeda is bombing Muslims in Iran, taking out 11 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.
Al-Sadr has fled to Iran and al-Qaeda has withdrawn from Baghdad. Seems "the surge" is already working. Hmmm, wouldn't it be cool if al-Sadr was assassinated while in Iran? That would shake up the "Arab street"!
France's leading anti-terrorism judge is warning that the risk of terror attacks in Europe is high and is increasing.
That must be why Jacques Chirac is readying the white flag of surrender:
French President Jacque Chirac has announced his support for lessening pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program, for fear Hezbollah will strike at French troops serving in Lebanon, according to information recently received in Jerusalem. According to reports, Chirac proposed sending a special envoy to Tehran to reach understandings that would protect the French soldiers serving in in the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Chirac, always ready to coddle tyrants and terrorists, especially if it undermines America.
I wonder what he is going to do about the death threats to many of the 15,000 French Muslims per year that are converting to Christianity? Gotta love the "religion of peace".
You know Homeland Security must be doing something right with al-Qaeda starts targeting neighboring countries in order to deal a blow to the Great Satan. The Saudi branch of al-Qaeda is calling for terrorist strikes on Canada's oil and natural gas facilities to "choke the U.S. economy."
Speaking of the War on Islamofacism, the Sydney Morning Herald informs us that a new secret US base will be built on defense land at Geraldton. "Secret new US spy base to get green light" screams the headline. Oh wait, the article says that the negotiations are the "secret" part. Does "secret" mean something else in Australian?
A Fox opinion poll finds that 77% of American voters believe that what happens in Iraq affects our security here, a plurality of 44% believe that the military should be more aggressive in responding to insurgents, yet only 35% support sending more troops.
Raw data here.
Jonah Goldberg pens an op-ed in today's LATimes in which he follows the rhetoric of a freshman Democrat to it's logical conclusion. It begins:
'AS I LOOK AT Iraq, I recall the words of former general and soon-to-be-President Dwight Eisenhower during the dark days of the Korean War, which had fallen into a bloody stalemate. 'When comes the end?' … And as soon as he became president, he brought the Korean War to an end." This was part of freshman Virginia Sen. Jim Webb's stentorian Democratic response to President Bush's State of the Union address.
One wonders if the untold millions of North Koreans who've starved, bled and died since then would similarly applaud Eisenhower's courage and wisdom. For more than half a century, North Korea has been a prison-camp society beyond the imagining of George Orwell, where public executions for stealing food are familiar events. The man-made famine of the 1990s alone claimed the lives of up to 1 million people (hard data from Stalinist regimes are difficult to come by).
One also wonders when our troops are going to come home. Technically, the Korean War isn't really even over. We're merely enjoying a cease-fire — much like the one we had with Iraq in the 1990s.
In other LATimes news:
According to a Gallup Poll, 41 percent of Americans believe that the mainstream media's reporting of Iraq is accurate. Stunning.
This is why the Fourth Estate is so successful in undermining our war effort. Again.
The always insightful Victor Davis Hanson writes about our military successes, throws in a little history, and calls on a military leader to step forward with a plan. Read it all, but I couldn't resist extracting this:
What then is the problem since we are still fighting in both Afghanistan and Iraq after brilliant victories over the Taliban and Saddam Hussein?
Most obvious is the inability of our conventional forces to translate amazing tactical success in Afghanistan and Iraq into rapid strategic victory, a transition of establishing a stable postbellum government that requires everything from winning hearts and minds to inspired counter-insurgency. These questions about the transition from conventional to asymmetrical warfare always have nagged—why did the armies of Sherman and Grant who crushed nearly half-a-million Confederate soldiers in a little over a year from summer 1864 to spring 1865, not secure Reconstruction in 12 miserable years of failure, in the face of a few thousands Klansmen, and assorted night riders?
Hat Tip to InstaPundit.
He murdered thousands and buried them in unmarked mass graves in the desert. He used chemical weapons on entire Kurd villages. He made war on his neighbors and left more than a million dead. He was a destabilizing force in the region. His country sat on top of rich oil reserves, yet he starved his people and kept them in poverty.
Saddam Hussein went to meet his ultimate judge a few hours ago.
Reactions:
As for me, I remain opposed to the death penalty in all but a few special cases. This is a very special case.
This was a vile creature that begat even more loathsome offspring. He was clearly guilty of the most reprehensible of crimes against humanity. His continued existence brought nothing good. His death gives closure to tens of thousands of those affected by his evil and ends all possibility of his return to power.
So this is a death sentence that I approve of. That I would have executed myself if given that task.
Yet the only things that runs through my mind as I think about this animal is the image of the statue falling, the pictures of him being dragged from a rat hole, and, bizarrely, I keep hearing Patterns, a song by Simon and Garfunkel:
The night sets softly
With the hush of falling leaves,
Casting shivering shadows
On the houses through the trees,
And the light from a street lamp
Paints a pattern on my wall,
Like the pieces of a puzzle
Or a child's uneven scrawl.Up a narrow flight of stairs
In a narrow little room,
As I lie upon my bed
In the early evening gloom.
Impaled on my wall
My eyes can dimly see
The pattern of my life
And the puzzle that is me.From the moment of my birth
To the instant of my death,
There are patterns I must follow
Just as I must breathe each breath.
Like a rat in a maze
The path before me lies,
And the pattern never alters
Until the rat dies.And the pattern still remains
On the wall where darkness fell,
And it's fitting that it should,
For in darkness I must dwell.
Like the color of my skin,
Or the day that I grow old,
My life is made of patterns
That can scarcely be controlled.
The rat is dead, but the pattern of darkness still remains. Still, killing the rat is a good beginning.
NRO prints a report from a marine stationed in Iraq. He covers a variety of topics, including technology and tactics. Here's a taste:
Morale: [M]orale among our guys is very high. They not only believe that they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally view as against them. The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see shit like "Are we losing in Iraq" on TV and the print media.
Read it all.
The job hasn't even been posted, but hundreds of Iraqis have already inquired about the job as Hussein's hangman.
Bassam al-Husseiny said he receives eight to 10 phone calls a day, and 20 to 30 e-mails by those who want the assignment. The interested Iraqis, he said, come from all three of the country's major religions and ethnicities and from high-level government officials to "the tea boy."
Saddam Hussein, a name that will live in infamy forever.
One of those stories you just don't hear enough about: the fact that in 80% of Iraq there is an economic boom going on that is essential to that country's recovery:
The boom in Um Qasr is part of a broader picture that also includes Basra (the sprawling metropolis of southern Iraq), the Shi'ite "holy" cities of Najaf and Karbala, Mandali on the Iranian border and much of Baghdad.
When the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank reported two years ago that the Iraqi economy was heading for a boom, skeptics dismissed it as misplaced optimism. Now, however, even some of those who opposed the toppling of Saddam Hussein admit that many Iraqis share that optimism.
Newsweek has just hailed the emergence of a booming market economy in Iraq as "the mother of all surprises," noting that "Iraqis are more optimistic about the future than most Americans are." The reason, of course, is that Iraqis know what is going on in their country while Americans are fed a diet of exclusively negative reporting from Iraq.
Some facts sprinkled throughout the article:
Capitalism and freedom go hand in hand. Don't believe the liberal media: we are going to win this thing.
The Iraqi High Tribunal's appellate chamber has upheld Hussein's sentence to die by hanging in his role in the 1982 massacre of 148 people in Dujail.
Iraqi law holds that a death sentence upheld by the appellate chamber must be carried out within 30 days.
Buh-bye, despot.
Today's must read comes from Iraq the Model: The Battle for the Middle East. Pithiest observation:
One of our biggest problems here is that many of us and of our politicians in particular seem to have lost the ability to strategic vision and allowed themselves to indulge in details and are satisfied by looking at only one corner of the image that they are no longer able to comprehend the magnitude of this critical conflict of our time.
Hat tip to Dean's World.
So says Defense Tech:
Despite what you might have heard from other media, the Iraqi Army does not suck. In fact, by regional standards, it's a fine little army: well-armed, well-led and capable of defeating terrorists and insurgents in a stand-up fight. It wasn't always that way, but the coalition's clean-sheet approach and years of hard work by training teams has really paid off.
But the Iraqi Army has two major weaknesses.
Go read for the whole story.
Another surprise bit of information from Saddam's intelligence documents captured after the liberation. The American Thinker provides a partial translation of a report from an Iraqi Intelligence officer to "The Presidency of the Republic", dated 25 July 2000.
In part:
We were informed from one of our sources (the degree of trust in him is good) who works in the American Associated Press Agency [emphasis added] that the agency broadcasted to through computer to its branches worldwide the following:
The AP traitor gave information about the training, movements and plans of the UN weapons inspectors under the bumbling leadership of Inspector Clouseau Hans Blix.
Technorati tags: Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column, Journalistic Anti-Americanism, Liberals Supporting Tyrants, Iraq, Saddam, Iraqi Intelligence, Foreign Military Studies Office.
Stacy Campfield has a short post composed by a friend who recently returned from military service in Iraq . . . again. In part:
As you know I just got back from my second trip to Iraq. Fortunately, this last one was short. Despite all the negative media reports from Iraq, I'm very happy to report the amount of progress going on. I spent the duration of my time in Baghdad, most of which I was working with the IA (Iraqi Army).
When I first arrived in theater I was told I would be doing joint patrols with the IA. My thought drifted back to my observations from my first tour and the competency level of the IA. Needless to say my first though was OH SH#$. After the first mission my reservations were gone. I can honestly say that the IA (or at least the ones I was working with) are 100 times better than what I recalled from my first Iraq deployment. At the troop level they were/are doing good things. In the area, although their still is the occasional violence, it isn't quite as bad as people are led to believe.
Once again, we hear a different story from that told by "news" reporters. We will be able to withdraw when the job is done and the Iraqis can take care of themselves. And that time is coming faster than I thought it would (I figured about ten years would be need to rebuild the nation that suffered decades under Saddam and Sons boot).
He called the new Iraqi Defense Minister an "interesting cat" and Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the deceased al-Qaeda leader, "a dangerous dude." Bush had reason, finally, to strut. The al-Zarqawi raid had netted valuable intelligence data that were enabling U.S. and Iraqi forces to roll up al-Qaeda cells-the best haul since the capture of Saddam Hussein, which made it possible for U.S. forces to disable much of the dictator's inner circle in early 2004. What's more, the first elected Iraqi government was finally fully in place. Back home, Karl Rove was officially unindicted in the cia [sic] leak case, and the Democrats were busy being Democrats-divided, defensive and confused about the war, with Bush's favorite punching bag, Senator John Kerry, leading the charge.Ah, but then the spin begins as the author spends the remaining paragraphs telling Democrats that they have to stop "embracing defeat" and give the Iraqi government "one more chance to succeed". Of course, the author also sets up the scenario that if Baghdad cannot be stabilized during "Operation Forward Together" the "the war is lost".Kerry gave an eloquent speech to a group of left-liberal activists on the day of Bush's Baghdad trip. "It is not enough to argue with the logistics [of the war] ... or the manner of the conflict's execution or the failures of competence, as great as they are," Kerry said, to wild cheers. "It's essential to acknowledge that the war itself was a mistake." It was an appropriate act of contrition, but then-as is his awkward wont-Kerry overreacted and called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of the year. It was a proposition that garnered all of six votes on the Senate floor when Senate Republicans gleefully submitted Kerry's idea to a vote later in the week.
So Kerry's "cut and run" was bad because America is rejecting it, but if we don't succeed in the next few months (before the fall election) then we've lost the war and should call it quits.
How incredibly predictable.
Technorati Tags: Media Spin, Traitor John Kerry, Cut and Run Democrats, Terrorism, War on Terror, War on Islamofacism, Fourth Estate, Fifth Column, George W. Bush, Winning the War, Operation Forward Together, Liberals Suck.
“Out of 389 military operations conducted this past week, Iraqi Security Forces only -- with no Coalition support -- conducted almost 40 percent of them.”
The strike was the result of a combined US - Jordanian operation. Jordan was al-Zarqawi's birthplace. And apparently, the tip came from someone inside al-Zarqawi's own organization.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was first to announce the death, saying, "Whenever there is a new Zarqawi, we will kill him, [too]." He then announced candidates for three key positions: Iraqi Army Gen. Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim al-Mifarji (a Sunni Arab) for the defense ministry and Shiites Jawad al-Bolani for interior and Sherwan al-Waili for national security. But the real news is this:
Parliament promptly approved the names -- a far cry from its earlier reluctance to even meet to consider al-Maliki's proposals to run the army and national police. That stalemate had dragged on for weeks because of a Shi'ite-Sunni-Kurdish inability to agree on who was acceptable.The press, of course, is already throwing cold water on the news of Zarqawi's death. While it is true that killing Zarqawi will not stop the violence, the mastermind's death is a blow to the insurgency both militarily and psychologically.
Besides, oil prices dropped on the news of his death, and that's always good news.
Excerpt from Tony Blair's comments:
For three years, Al Qaida have sought to murder innocent people, promote sectarian killing and wreck the democratic process in Iraq. But this terrorism is a global movement. Their attack in Iraq has only ever been part of a wider attack that they've carried into conflicts and countries the world over. Indeed, there's barely a major nation in the world that has not felt the outreach of their evil.Excerpt from George W. Bush's comments:So defeat them in Iraq, and we will defeat them everywhere.
We need to do so armed, of course, with weapons, but also with one simple idea: that where people want to live in freedom and be governed by democracy, they should be able to do so and the world should stand united behind them. In Iraq today that idea has shown its worth.
Now Zarqawi has met his end, and this violent man will never murder again. Iraqis can be justly proud of their new government and its early steps to improve their security. And Americans can be enormously proud of the men and women of our armed forces, who worked tirelessly with their Iraqi counterparts to track down this brutal terrorist and put him out of business.Timeline of Zarqawi's lifeThe operation against Zarqawi was conducted with courage and professionalism by the finest military in the world. Coalition and Iraqi forces persevered through years of near misses and false leads, and they never gave up. Last night their persistence and determination were rewarded. On behalf of all Americans, I congratulate our troops on this remarkable achievement. ...
Zarqawi's death is a severe blow to al-Qaida. It's a victory in the global war on terror, and it is an opportunity for Iraq's new government to turn the tide of this struggle.
A recounting of Zarqawi's grisely life from Dan Darling of the Weekly Standard.
Technorati Tags: al-Zarqawi, War on Islamofacism, Iraq.
Technorati Tags: Iraq, War on Islamofacism.
Retired Iraqi Gen. Georges Sada, a former fighter pilot-turned-Christian evangelist, says Kurds are converting to Christianity "by the hundreds" in northern Iraq.I receive a newsletter from a missionary that has been in northern Iraq since before the war, so I would like to make a couple of observations.Gen. Sada earlier reported that he had been told that Iraqi pilots, flying private planes, took weapons of mass destruction to undisclosed locations in Syria in 2002.
The "good news" from Iraq's turbulent religious scene, consisting mainly of Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim militias battling each other, is from the Kurds, he said. Kurds are creating a constitution that does away with Shariah, or Islamic law, a move counter to trends in other Muslim countries such as Afghanistan and Iran, where leaving Islam is a capital offense and Christian converts are often killed.
First, the newsletters I receive do not indicate massive conversions. Instead, they paint a picture of a man and his family struggling with the day to day problems that one would expect in a turbulent country. Problems with officials that are far away and a gradual building of trust with local officials. A series of small victories that take weeks to arrange, yet add up to make a real impact on the lives of those in the communities served. And always, faith and prayer serving at the center of the people involved in the effort.
Second, there seems to be little proselytizing going on. Instead, the missionaries are concentrating on making lives better. If conversion results, then that is a good thing. But that does not seem to be why they are there. They are building schools. Securing books and supplies. Getting computers donated and shipped in to set up an internet cafe.
The life of a missionary is very different from that portrayed by Hollywood. God bless missionary Rick and his family.
Technorati Tags: Iraq, War on Islamofacism, Missionaries.
Even if Post reporters missed the section in the 230-page report on terror training camps operated by the Fedayeen Saddam, the militia of soldiers most loyal to the ruthless ruler, that issue was raised again in Congressional hearings last month. The camps, which were started in 1994, trained some 7,200 Iraqis in the art of terrorism in the first year alone. “Beginning in 1998,” according to the full report, “these camps began hosting ‘Arab volunteers from Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, ‘the Gulf,’ and Syria.’”The author rightly berates the White House for not mentioning this report to get it in front of at least some of the American public. Perhaps Tony Snow will convince the administration to do a better job of public relations.So in the late 1990’s and beyond, during which time conventional wisdom tells us that Saddam was “contained,” Iraq was training thousands of terrorists from across the Arab world. Saddam was not slowing down. “The training activity of the groups were increasing both internal and apparently external. It was increasing over time,” testified Lt. Col. Kevin Woods (retired), the report’s chief author.
Technorati Tags: Saddam Hussein, Iraq, War on Terror, War on Islamofacism, Terrorist Training Camps, Fifth Column, Media Spin, Leftwing Media.
CENTCOM announced today that they had captured al-Qaeda correspondence in Iraq that discusses the state of the insurgency, especially around Baghdad but also around the entire country. Far from optimistic, the documents captured in an April 16th raid reveal frustration and desperation, as the terrorists acknowledge the superior position of American and free Iraqi forces and their ability to quickly adapt to new tactics.Read it all.
I especially love the part about the insurgency in Baghdad being a "media oriented policy", i.e., a sensationalist battle designed to manipulate public opinion via the fifth column fourth estate:
... the significance of the strategy of their work is to show in the media that the American and the government do not control the situation and there is resistance against them.Don't look for in depth analysis of this point or any subsequent soul searching on the part of the NYTimes.
Technorati Tags: al-Qaeda, Iraq, War on Terror, War on Islamofacism, Zarqawi.
Give Zarqawi his due — adapting fighting tactics to match the tactical situation is the mark of a good general. On the other hand, our military has trained to fight guerillas for decades.
Zarqawi's days are numbered.
Technorati Tags: Iraq, War on Islamofacism, al-Zarqawi.
In the intervening three years our young men and women have stayed to rebuild a shattered nation and give hope to a downtrodden people.
In the intervening three years we have seen the downfall of a monstrous despot, the formation of a free government, the writing of a constitution, the jubilation of Iraqis voting in free elections, the incredible bravery of Iraqis as they lined up to take the dangerous job of fighting those who would keep them from being free and the formation of an increasingly independent Iraqi security force.
Now, of course, the Left attempts to disuade us from our course by asking, "Has it been worth it?" The best answer I've seen comes from an email sent to Bill Bennett, titled On the Selfishness of Time, from a guy named Joe in Abilene. In part:
FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ-FREEDOMMost importantly, on this, the three year anniversary of the start of the liberation of Iraq, let us give thanks to our troops for volunteering to put themselves in harms way to protect the innocent.How thoughtlessly, how selfishly we measure time and sacrifice.
Build a country in three years? ...
If 1776 were 3 years ago, it would be 10 more years until we have a constitution!
If 1860, and we walked off the battle fields in 1863, a black slave would be preparing my breakfast right now! ...
NOT IN 3 YEARS
NOT IN 10 TIMES 3 YEARS, NOT UNTIL THEY GET THEIR CHANCE AT FREEDOM!
Technorati Tags: War on Islamofascism, War on Terror, Liberation of Iraq, Iraqi Freedom, Iraqi Liberation, Iraq.
First, he noted that that it has been Iraqi security forces that are taking the lead in quelling the violence with U.S. forces operating as support. He then talked about the steps that the Iraqi government took to take control of the situation. And then this:
From what I've seen thus far, much of the reporting in the U.S. and abroad has exaggerated the situation, according to General Casey. The number of attacks on mosques, as he pointed out, had been exaggerated. The number of Iraqi deaths had been exaggerated. The behavior of the Iraqi security forces had been mischaracterized in some instances. And I guess that is to say nothing of the apparently inaccurate and harmful reports of U.S. military conduct in connection with a bus filled with passengers in Iraq.Well said!Interestingly, all of the exaggerations seem to be on one side. It isn't as though there simply have been a series of random errors on both sides of issues. On the contrary, the steady stream of errors all seem to be of a nature to inflame the situation and to give heart to the terrorists and to discourage those who hope for success in Iraq.
And then I notice today that there's been a public opinion poll reporting that the readers of these exaggerations believe Iraq is in a civil war -- a majority do, which I suppose is little wonder that the reports we've seen have had that effect on the American people. ...
Nearly 56 years ago, in 1950, the Truman administration issued what would become a framework for America's Cold War strategy for four decades. In a formerly classified document called NSC 68, the Truman administration said, quote, "Our fundamental purpose is more likely to be defeated from lack of will to maintain it than from any mistakes we may make or assault we may undergo because of asserting that will," unquote. Today our nation is again in a long struggle. And again, the toughest challenge will be to maintain our national will to persevere and to prevail.
Technorati Tags: Iraq, War on Islamofascism, Lefty Lies, Media Spin, Fifth Column, Sapping Americas Will Through False Reporting.
Several new sources have come to light to indicate that Saddam probably did have WMD, at least chemical and biological weapons, and that a nuclear program had not been entirely discontinued. And they also suggest a substantial relationship between Saddam and al Qaeda.What follows is a great roundup of recent news stories and ongoing investigations.
I wonder, after the "Bush Lied" myth is exposed for what it is (a lie), will anyone utter an apology?
Technorati Tags: WMD, Iraq, Saddam Hussain.
He detailed the transfers in an interview yesterday with The New York Sun.Of course, it is a Democrat lie that the war of liberation was really all about WMD and "immanent threat", but it is a lie that has been repeated long enough and loud enough that it has entered the American consciousness and is accepted as truth. I've never really minded this because have always been and remain confident that Saddam had an active WMD program and that they will eventually be found. See these posts:"There are weapons of mass destruction gone out from Iraq to Syria, and they must be found and returned to safe hands," Mr. Sada said. "I am confident they were taken over."
Mr. Sada's comments come just more than a month after Israel's top general during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Moshe Yaalon, told the Sun that Saddam "transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria."
Technorati Tags: War on Islamofacism, War on Terror, Saddam's WMD, Iraq WMD, Syria, Iraq, Homeland Security.
But the plain fact is that in Kashmir, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Israel, the prospects are all a great deal more promising than they were at the beginning of this year. It is no longer fanciful to dismiss as wholly unrealistic President George W. Bush's grand strategy to modernize and bring democracy to the Middle East. And at this time of year, it is important to recognize that the rosy scenario now exists.Hmmm, it seems to me that given the apparent results it was never unrealistic to believe in the Bush Doctrine.
Meanwhile, the Arab News lists some of the accomplishments made in Iraq:
Money quote:
- The Baathist regime has been toppled and its apparatus of repression dismantled. ...
- The sapling of democracy has been planted in Iraqi soil and seems to be flourishing after several local elections, a constitutional referendum, and two general elections. ...
- A one party system has been replaced with a pluralist one with more than 200 political groups and parties representing every imaginable strand of ideology and opinion. ...
- Baghdad, which once hosted the headquarters of some 30 international terror organizations, is now one of the few capitals in the Middle East in which terrorists are no longer welcome, let alone protected.
- Iraq’s economy, modeled on Soviet-style central planning and control under Saddam, has been opened up with over 18,000 new small and medium companies registered across the country during the past three years. Iraqi agriculture, moribund in the last years of Saddam, has been revived and is now providing the bulk of the nation’s food for the first time since the 1950s.
The US-led coalition came to Iraq not to impose democracy by force but to use force to remove impediments to Iraq’s democratization. That task has been achieved in record time.Nicely put.
While Iraqis all over the world joyfully showed their ink-stained fingers by holding up their digit or by making a peace sign, this Iraqi soldier is clearly making a "W" sign.He couldn't be making a political statement, could he?
After so much suffering, there is so much hope:
Nori Abdul Hadi and his wife walked the 500 meters of dirt road from the black gate of their home in the Shiite spiritual city of Najaf to the school where they could vote on Thursday. ...
They dipped their fingers in blue ink and carefully slipped the precious sheets of paper into the plastic ballot box - casting votes they hoped would finally protect them and Iraq's other Shiites after centuries of oppression. ...
So he voted on Thursday with hope for the future and fear of the past.
He voted for a new Iraq that will keep Saddam away.
He voted to be represented as a Shiite.
He voted so jobs will come to his city and his family won't live on his wife's $70-a-month salary.
He voted to ask the Americans to stay until he's sure the suffering is over.
He voted to secure his future.
He voted to remedy his past.
"No one said I'm sorry that you suffered, that you lost your brother, that you lost your home," he said. "I hope the government will be better and unite. I'm relieved."
Anybody who doesn’t appreciate what America has done and President Bush, let them go to hell!More at Lifelike Pundits
— Iraqi Citizen, voter Betty Dawisha
When today's patrol ended, one of the soldiers said to me, "Sorry it wasn't more exciting for you." I told him I wasn't looking for excitement, and in fact, I was glad the day unfolded as it did.It reminded me that life in Iraq is never what you expect it to be. The situation here is far more complex and the fight far more nuanced than it is often portrayed.
As Iraqis nationwide prepare to go to the polls for the third time this year on Dec. 15 -- this time for a new parliament -- candidates and political parties of all stripes are embracing politics, Iraqi style, as never before and showing increasing sophistication about the electoral process, according to campaign specialists, party officials and candidates here.But of course, WaPo has to get in a shot at America:
Even the arrival of American-style negative campaigning is evidence of a growing political sophistication, the election trainers said. In recent days posters have started to appear in Sadr City, the vast Shiite slum in north Baghdad, bearing the slogan "vote for the Baathist slate," along with a composite photograph of a face -- half Allawi's and half Hussein's. Allawi was a member of Hussein's Baath Party until the mid-1970s, when he joined Iraq's opposition.Nice. But has WaPo never heard the rhetoric surrounding the Liberals and Tories in the UK? "American-style negative campaigning" indeed.
First, the White House released an unclassified version of the strategy for winning in Iraq, National Strategy for Victory in Iraq (also available in original PDF format). The document clearly outlines why we are fighting in Iraq and how we are going to win: by pursuing a three-pronged strategy consisting of a political track, a security track and an economic track.
Second, the president gave a speech to Naval Academy students at Annapolis, noting that this is the first year that the entire student body consisted of those who volunteered to serve their nation in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
In the speech, the president promised to continue laying out his strategy and identify the progress that we are making. But today was reserved for one area: training Iraqis to take the place of our soldiers so our men and women can come home:
In the days ahead, I'll be discussing the various pillars of our strategy in Iraq. Today I want to speak in depth about one aspect of this strategy that will be critical to the victory in Iraq, and that's the training of Iraq security forces.I encourage everyone to go read his entire speech, but here are a few highlights that spoke to me:
He told us why we are fighting in Iraq:
Yet the terrorists have made it clear that Iraq is the central front in their war against humanity. And so we must recognize Iraq as the central front in the war on terror. ...He outlined the progress and success of training Iraqis to hold onto their new democracy:The terrorists in Iraq share the same ideology as the terrorists who struck the United States on September the 11th. Those terrorists share the same ideology with those who blew up commuters in London and Madrid, murdered tourists in Bali, workers in Riyadh and guests at a wedding in Amman, Jordan. Just last week they massacred Iraqi children and their parents at a toy giveaway outside an Iraqi hospital.
This is an enemy without conscience, and they cannot be appeased. If we're not fighting and destroying this enemy in Iraq, they would not be idle. They would be plotting and killing Americans across the world and within our own borders. By fighting these terrorists in Iraq, Americans in uniform are defeating a direct threat to the American people.
Against this adversary there is only one effective response: We will never back down, we will never give in, and we will never accept anything less than complete victory.
In Fallujah, the assault was led by nine coalition battalions, made up primarily of United States Marines and Army, with six Iraqi battalions supporting them.He made a backhand swipe at some naysayers:The Iraqis fought and sustained casualties, yet in most situations the Iraqi role was limited to protecting the flanks of coalition forces and securing ground that had already been cleared out by our troops.
This year in Tal Afar it was a very different story. The assault was primarily led by Iraqi security forces, 11 Iraqi battalions backed by five coalition battalions providing support.
Many Iraqi units conducted their own anti-terrorist operations and controlled their own battlespace, hunting for enemy fighters and securing neighborhoods, block by block.
To consolidate their military success, Iraqi units stayed behind to help maintain law and order. And reconstruction projects have been started to improve infrastructure and create jobs and provide hope. ...
Iraqi forces not only cleared the city, they held it. And because of the skill and courage of the Iraqi forces, the citizens of Tal Afar were able to vote in October's constitutional referendum.
Some critics dismiss this progress and point to the fact that only one Iraqi battalion has achieved complete independence from the coalition.He addressed the "exit strategy" issue:To achieve complete independence, an Iraqi battalion must do more than fight the enemy on its own. It must also have the ability to provide its own support elements, including logistics, airlift, intelligence, and command and control through their ministries.
Not every Iraqi unit has to meet this level of capability in order for the Iraqi security forces to take the lead in the fight against the enemy.
As a matter of fact, there are some battalions from NATO militaries that would not be able to meet this standard.
The facts are that Iraqi units are growing more independent and more capable. They are defending their new democracy with courage and determination. They're in the fight today and they will be in the fight for freedom tomorrow.
And as the Iraqi security forces stand up, coalition forces can stand down. And when our mission of defeating the terrorists in Iraq is complete, our troops will return home to a proud nation.He supplied a more direct response to his attackers:
Some are calling for a deadline for withdrawal. Many advocating an artificial timetable for withdrawing our troops are sincere, but I believe they're sincerely wrong.He even had something to make those in or associated with the Axis of Evil uneasy:Pulling our troops out before they've achieved their purpose is not a plan for victory. As Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman said recently, "Setting an artificial timetable would discourage our troops because it seems to be heading for the door. It will encourage the terrorists. It will confuse the Iraqi people."
Senator Lieberman is right: Setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would send a message across the world that America is weak and an unreliable ally.
Setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would send a signal to our enemies that if they wait long enough, America will cut and run and abandon its friends.
And setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would vindicate the terrorist tactics of beheadings and suicide bombings and mass murder and invite new attacks on America.
To all who wear the uniform, I make you this pledge: America will not run in the face of car bombers and assassins so long as I am your commander in chief.
Advancing the cause of freedom and democracy in the Middle East begins with ensuring the success of a free Iraq. Freedom's victory in that country will inspire democratic reformers from Damascus to Tehran and spread hope across a troubled region, and lift a terrible threat from the lives of our citizens.Critics were quick to come out of the woodwork on this one. In fact, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid issued a response to the president's speech even before the president finished speaking.
The main criticism is that there's nothing new here, that we are still "staying the course". This may play to those that either didn't hear the speech or don't read the transcript, but I thought the president did a good job of showing how our strategy had changed to meet the realities presented on the ground.
The most important point, however, is that the White House silence has been broken. The president has a clear, multilevel strategy, our forces are altering mission posture when conditions call for it, and there is are documented goals for defining success.
Overall, I believe the president did a good job. His intent was not to restructure policy or lay out an "exit strategy". His intent was to "sell" the war to the American people. This was a marketing job made necessary by the loud voice of the left.
And when viewed as a marketing speech that is the first in a series of marketing speeches, I judge it a success. That is, it is a very good start. If followed up by a series of speeches that address other strategies and documents other successes, then the American people will turn their backs on the fifth column and the hysterical rantings of Democrat extremists.
Of course, choosing the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas (when most of the public is distracted by more base and selfish pursuits) for launching this counteroffensive is somewhat questionable.
Yet 10 years after the signing of the Dayton accords and five years after the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, fully 25,000 NATO troops remain stationed in Bosnia and Kosovo. ...Damn straight.What the peace-making efforts in Bosnia and Kosovo should have taught us is that the reconstruction of nations fractured by ethnic and sectarian divides is not about overnight miracles. Progress is patchy, with as many setbacks as advances, until local actors commit to the principles of a rules-based society. ...
The 1992-95 conflicts in Bosnia between Serbs, Croats and Muslims cost more than 200,000 lives and forced 2 million people to flee their homes and villages. ...
Ten years after the Dayton accords, the collapse of the state-dominated economy, compounded by wartime destruction, has ruined most of Bosnia's industry. Only after billions of dollars of aid has the economy recovered to pre-war levels of per capita production.
Foreign investment is growing but Bosnia imports three times as much as it exports. The unemployment rate is almost 40 per cent. ...
In his recent book, Not Quite the Diplomat, former European external affairs commissioner Chris Patten puts starkly the importance of success, especially in Bosnia-Herzegovina: "If it were to break apart, the fall-out for the whole region would be catastrophic."
Almost exactly the same words could just as easily describe the challenge in Iraq, as well as the implications of failing to meet that challenge.
Update: Captain's Quarters has this to say about a similar article:
Let's make clear what happened here. We occupied a primarily Muslim state for the last ten years, trying to separate three different ethnic factions from each other. We initially went into Bosnia to quell a civil war and a genocide in progress, and then waited ten years for the kind of political progress that would make our presence unnecessary. Despite this quagmire, we kept our troops in the country and continued to work on a political construct based on democracy -- and we gave it ten years without loud demands for precipitous withdrawal prior to an effective resolution.Commenters are quick to point out that we have neither the same troop strength nor steady string of casualties, so a comparison is invalid. Captain Ed is quick to respond:
So once again, we have to evaluate the mission based on the body count. Stopping genocide is only worth it when it costs 12 American lives, but if it costs 18 (Mogadishu), or 2,000 to liberate 25 million Iraqis, then it's obviously not worth it. That sound right to you?HT to Bob KrummThat's not how missions get evaluated, Monkei. Using your formulation, World War II was our biggest military failure, while bombing Yugoslavia was the greatest moment in our military history.
9) The Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle: Thumbs way up. Spectacular range and accuracy and hits like a freight train. Used frequently to take out vehicle suicide bombers ( we actually stop a lot of them) and barricaded enemy. Definitely here to stay. ...There's more on who we are fighting and the bad guys tactics. Money quote:Bad guy weapons: ...
2) The RPG: Probably the infantry weapon most feared by our guys. Simple, reliable and as common as dogshit. The enemy responded to our up-armored humvees by aiming at the windshields, often at point blank range. Still killing a lot of our guys.
According to Jordan, morale among our guys is very high. They not only believe they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally view as against them. The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see shit like "Are we losing in Iraq?" on TV and the print media. For the most part, they are satisfied with their equipment, food and leadership. Bottom line though, and they all say this, there are not enough guys there to drive the final stake through the heart of the insurgency, primarily because there aren't enough troops in-theater to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians and the Syrians just can't stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally (with, of course, permanent US bases there).
The women carried banners which read: "The cries of martyrs echo still, we demand the death of Saddam Hussein," as well as photos of victims of his regime.MSM didn't cover the story and there are no pictures.
It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark.Read the whole thing. Follow the links.
The NYTimes has sunk to a new low in a series of lows and so I felt compelled to write the ombudsman, for whatever good it will do:
Mr. Calame, I have never written your paper before, but I feel that the NYTimes article 2,000 Dead has reached a new low in biased reporting.Thanks to journalists like Michelle Malkin, the public can see the half-truths which you spin your reporting to paint a grim picture of the fight to liberate Iraq and strike another blow against Islamofacism, a sick culture that has repeatedly attacked the United States and continues acts of barbarity like the beheading of school girls.
Your paper does a disservice to its readers. But worse, it demeans and demoralizes our troops, hiding the good they do and accentuating the dangers they face.
Furthermore, your paper supports the terrorists just as it did in 1932 when it supported Stalin's pogrom against Ukrainians in which seven million people died and the breadbasket of Europe was destroyed. To remind you, Times reporter Walter Duranty won a Pulitzer for defending Stalin with the now infamous phrase, "You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." The NY Times still refuses to give back the Pulitzer that Duranty won even though the passage of time has revealed that his articles were filled with lies.
And now your paper twists the words of our heroes, who fight to give Iraqis the freedoms that you enjoy. It is my prayer that they never misuse their rights the way your paper does.
There was a day that I forwarded articles from the NYTimes to friends and colleagues. Your paper has sunk so low in my opinion that I would sooner forward an article from the National Enquirer. At least they are honest about their dishonesty and it is much more entertaining. It should be a sad day when a segment of the population believes that the NYTimes has sunk to the level of yellow journalism.
But even as the violence shuts down many avenues to a normal life, for Rana, 35, Xena 31, Muna, 26 and Assal, 24, it has created the possibility of a good paying job and living on equal terms with Iraqi men.Who said these people don't have what it takes to democratically rule themselves?"Before I got into this, I was like a normal female; when I heard bullets, I would hide," said Muna, a stocky young woman in a black T-shirt and black pants.
"Now, I feel like a man. When I hear a bullet, I want to know where it came from," she said, sitting comfortably with an AK-47 assault rifle across her legs, red toenails poking out from a pair of stacked sandals. "Now I feel equal to my husband."
If the work provides personal fulfillment for Muna, her colleague Assal -- a divorced mother -- sees it as a cause.
"I have seen a lot of innocent people die," she said, staring out with intense black eyes. "We are trying to defend ourselves and defend each other. I am doing this for my country."
Was he a Baathist who is scowling because he believes the constitution will be approved and his country will eventually fragment, leaving his Sunni brethren destitute? Did he suffer in Saddam's torture chambers, and is grimacing in pain because he has just forced his mangled body to walk the miles so that he might vote "yes", thrusting a stake in the heart of Saddam's sadistic legacy? Did he lose his family to American helicopters or to terrorist bombs? Does his heart hold hope or pain? Are his eyes filled with sorrow or triumph? Is his jaw set anguish or exultation?
Whatever his story, today he walked the miles through quiet streets that he might participate in a constitutional referendum that will shape his country's future, and reverberate throughout the Middle East in the decades to come. With a quiet dignity he holds up his ink-stained finger, a testament to the pride of an entire people.
Such a simple thing, yet it was a day of trepidation, of hope, of immense symbolism and of surprises.
In the 19 days before the vote terrorists killed almost 450 Iraqis and promised more bloodshed to keep citizens away from the polls. On the eve of the vote there were widespread power outages in Baghdad when terrorists blew up power lines.
But power was restored in short order and the ten hours from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. today were largely peaceful. It is estimated that 61% of the 15.5 million registered voters participated today, meaning that well over nine million Iraqis braved the threats to make their voice heard.
A day that U.S. and Iraqi leaders feared could turn bloody turned out to be the most peaceful in months.Peaceful because of soldiers like these. Iraqi soldiers guarding against a terrorist minority inspirited by foreign influences. Iraqi soldiers guarding Iraqi polls so Iraqi citizens could vote on an Iraqi constitution formulated by Iraqis.
A day of pride and hope for all of Iraq, no matter what the outcome of the vote.
A day in which Iraq the Model (who is photoblogging the day) could vote yes. A day in which Healing Iraq could break a seven-month silence on his blog to post a single sentence: I voted against.
Because in the end, it is not whether the constitution passes or not, it is that the people have a voice. If it passes, the struggle for democracy will not end for there are many challenges ahead. If it fails, the struggle for democracy will not end because the ministers will gather once again to construct another (and hopefully better) version, and the people's voice will again be heard.
The constitution is not perfect; no document of this import authored by man can be. Ibn Alrafidain explores some of the problems in a post but in the end decides to vote yes.
This picture of a policeman holding up his ink-stained finger after voting was posted by Iraqi blogger Sooni, who also blogged about his struggle with how to vote.
Many were proud to be able to participate:
“It is my duty and pleasure to participate in democracy,” said Hamed Humadi, a 61-year-old retired shopkeeper, as he dipped his right index finger in the bottle of blue ink, signifying the fact he voted. “All Iraqis should take part on this great day.”
Turnout was mixed:
Only about 20 people had voted in the Sunni town of Haditha, northwest of Baghdad, after three hours. Said Ahmad Fliha walked up the hill to the fortified polling station with the help of a relative and Iraqi soldier."I'm 75 years old. Everything is finished for me. But I'm going to vote because I want a good future for my children," Fliha said. ...
"I am an Iraqi citizen. Of course, I voted 'yes,"' said Abid Ali Hussein, an elderly man with a white beard, as he left the area. "God willing, there will be no terrorism."...
"I voted 'no' because the new government says if there is trouble in the future, Iraq could be split. I say there should be one nation," said voter Obeidi Amir Nasser, 30.
Aljazeera, mouthpiece of terrorists, is covering the Sunnis' dissatisfaction with the constitution and many "no" votes that would be cast in central Baghdad:
"This constitution was made by the Americans and Israelis and Iran and their friends in the Iraqi government," said a teenager as his friends nodded in agreement. ..."I don't know anything about it. Nobody told us. But I said 'No'. After all, it was drawn up by the Americans," said Ahmad Abu Zahra.
But it wasn't drawn up by Americans. It was hammered out between the ethnic groups of Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni officials elected by Iraqis for just that purpose. There are those who believe the three groups cannot form a unified country, there are those who believe otherwise:
Most Sunni Arabs, the politically dominant community under Saddam, oppose the constitution, saying it provides too much power and influence to the Shi'ites and Kurds, giving them control over Iraq's rich oil reserves in the north and south.Of course, we were told that the many tribes of Afghanistan couldn't be united, and yet . . .Others argue the constitution could bring the nation closer together, if more Sunni Arabs can be brought on board. One major Sunni party broke ranks last week in return for a promise that the charter would be fully reviewed after a December election.
Just as in Afghanistan (and unlike most Arab governments), women are allowed to vote in Iraq.
"Today, I came to vote because I am tired of terrorists, and I want the country to be safe again," said Zeinab Sahib, a 30-year-old mother of three, one of the first voters at a school in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Karrada in Baghdad. "This constitution means unity and hope."
And vote they did. A ban on vehicular traffic was imposed to cut down on car bombs (and looking back, it seems that the ban was effective) so people had to walk to the polls.
In the central Baghdad area of Khulani, where Sunnis and Shiites both live, a steady stream of voters entered a large polling station after being searched three times.They included old men and women who could barely walk with canes, and young mothers wearing chadors and carrying infants. Other voters wore baggy traditional Kurdish dresses, and some youths were dressed in jeans.
Within three hours of voting starting, at least a quarter of registered voters cast ballots in Baghdad's biggest Sunni Arab district, Azamiyah, where in January hardly a soul was seen in the January vote.
Pictured is a woman in traditional Kurdish dress casting her ballot. Kurds turned out in large numbers, most to support the constitution because it restores theirs rights and may serve as a stepping stone to one day establishing an independent Kurdistan.
Many women voted too, some dressed for the occasion in traditional full and brightly colored, embroidered costumes."I am taking part in the referendum to say 'yes' to a constitution that consecrates federalism and autonomy for our region," said 20-year-old Nihayat Karim.
Among the few who admitted they would vote against the constitution was Yasin Wahhab, a 27-year-old teacher.
"I am not optimistic because I think the project carries the stamp of Shiite religious forces that want to control Iraq," he said.
Now comes the tedious task of counting ballots, an effort that will take three or four days.In Baghdad, celebratory gunfire rung out as poll workers began counting ballots across Iraq's 18 provinces.
In Baghdad, men counted votes by lanterns because the electricity was out. Results were written on a chalkboard. Outside, Iraqi soldiers huddled in a courtyard, breaking their fast.
But no matter what the results of the referendum, one thing is clear: the Iraqi people are taking control of their destiny.
May God watch over them and grant them peace, prosperity and wisdom.
Reaching this landmark is especially significant given that Iraq’s military and police forces will be taking the lead in providing security for the Oct. 15 referendum, officials said. There are now more than 60,000 additional Iraqi security forces available than there were for the highly-successful January election held earlier this year.Just another building block in the master plan.Since the effort to rebuild the country’s forces began about 15 months ago, more than 115 special police and army combat battalions have been formed as well as regular police, border enforcement and highway patrol for the Ministry of Interior and motor transport regiments, Navy, Air Forces and numerous training organizations for the Ministry of Defense.
The difference of a "timeline" vs. a "plan" is vitally important. Dean and his liberal cronies want to know, right now, exactly when our last troops will be pulled away from protecting the fledgling democracy in the heart of the Middle East.
The president, of course, has a "plan" which sets out a series of events that take place, one building on the other, until the country has a good chance of standing on its own. Unlike the frequently fickle and factious left, the president put his plan into place way back in 2003 and is still following it today. Iraq is getting quite close to completing step 5 (write a constitution) and step 6 (ratification) is scheduled for Saturday.
If the constitution is not ratified, then the Iraqi people must return to step 5 and do it again until step 6 is successful. A plan allows for that — a timeline would become nonsensical in that event.
Meanwhile, al-Qaida is hoping that Dean is successful and the United States cuts and runs according to a timeline rather than a plan:
In a letter to his top deputy in Iraq, al-Qaida's No. 2 leader says the U.S. "ran and left" in Vietnam and the jihadists must have a plan ready to fill the void if the Americans suddenly leave Iraq.The similarity to Vietnam is of paramount importance in this debate. In Vietnam, the press waged a sociopolitical war on the war effort and the military and forced the withdrawal from an engagement that we were winning. They are attempting to do the same in Iraq. To allow them to succeed will be to show the United States is a paper tiger after all, to be dismissed as a gutless adversary in the drive to establish a Muslim state."Things may develop faster than we imagine," Ayman al-Zawahri wrote in a letter to his top deputy in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "The aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam - and how they ran and left their agents - is noteworthy. ... We must be ready starting now."
Further, al-Zawahri's letter shows the geopolitical importance of Iraq:
"It has always been my belief that the victory of Islam will never take place until a Muslim state is established ... in the heart of the Islamic world," al-Zawahri writes.Replace a few words and you will see an eerie echo of the president's vision. It would be perfectly natural for the president to say,: It has always been my belief that the victory of freedom will never take place until a democratic state is established ... in the heart of the Islamic world. This is our long-term plan: expel the terrorists from Iraq, establish an democratically elected authority and take the gift of freedom to Iraq's despotic neighbors, including Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.The letter lays out his long-term plan: expel the Americans from Iraq, establish an Islamic authority and take the war to Iraq's secular neighbors, including Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Thankfully, the president will remain president long enough to see the first fruits of his plan — before the left and their media mouthpieces can make the American public "go all wobbly" on the war on Islamofacism.
Update: The Director of National Intelligence has published al-Zarqawi's letter in its entirety.
Update: Powerline weighs in on the letter from al-Zawahiri.
"We got hold of a very important letter from Abu Azzam to Zarqawi asking him to begin to move a number of Arab fighters to the countries they came from to transfer their experience in car bombings in Iraq," [Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan] Jabor told Reuters in an interview in Amman.If true, then either Zarqawi is confident that the "insurgency" in Iraq will be successful even with reduced resources, or he is trying to inflame the region by spreading his terror elsewhere. If the former, then Zarqawi is delusional. If the latter, then he is desperate."So you will see insurgencies in other countries," said Jabor, a member of the Shi'ite Islamist SCIRI party, a key component of the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led coalition government. ...
Jabor said intelligence indicated some Arab militants had already left Iraq after losing ground during last month's assault by U.S. and Iraqi forces on the northern town of Tal Afar, where more than 1,500 insurgents were captured.
"They are leaving Iraq to transfer their training skills in car bombings to their original countries," he said.
Iraq's president said Tuesday that Saddam Hussein had confessed to killings and other "crimes" committed during his regime, including the massacre of thousands of Kurds in the late 1980s.Hussein family legal consultant Abdel Haq Alani says that Saddam didn't say anything to him about this when he met with Saddam yesterday.President Jalal Talabani (search) told Iraqi television that he had been informed by an investigating judge that "he was able to extract confessions from Saddam's mouth" about crimes "such as executions" which the ousted leader had personally ordered.
Asked about specific examples, Talabani, a Kurd, replied "Anfal," the codename for the 1987-88 campaign which his Patriotic Union of Kurdistan maintains led to the deaths of about 182,000 Kurds and the destruction of "dozens of Kurdish villages."
Among the many unresolved issues of the former Iraqi regime's support for terrorism, few are more potentially important than the activities throughout the mid to late 1990s of Iraqi military officials and chemical weapons specialists in Sudan.The Clinton Administration, along with a host of Sudanese opposition groups and nonproliferation experts, alleged that Iraqi chemical weapons experts were advising Sudanese military and intelligence officials on the development and production of chemical weapons. This is significant for two reasons, one obvious and one less obvious. First, any Iraqi activity on chemical weapons development inside or outside of Iraq would have constituted a serious violation of U.N. resolutions. Second, throughout much of the 1990s, the Sudanese Military Industrial Corporation (MIC) and Sudanese intelligence were virtually inseparable from al Qaeda. If the Iraqis were providing WMD technology to these elements of the corrupt Sudanese regime--led by Hasan al Turabi, who was openly sympathetic to Osama bin Laden--they were effectively providing it to al Qaeda. Even the most determined skeptics of an Iraq-al Qaeda connection concede this point.
Operation Scimitar- named after a curved sword - started Thursday with targeted raids in the village of Zaidan, 30 kilometres southeast of Fallujah. So far, 22 suspected insurgents have been detained.The three previous operations launched during the last month were named Operations Spear, Dagger and Sword. This operation was launched last Thursday and has already resulted in the arrest of 22 suspects.The offensive includes 500 Marines from the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team-8, a highly trained infantry unit stationed in Okinawa, Japan, the military said.
The military said it did not announce the offensive earlier because commanders did not want to tip off insurgents that a major operation had begun.Hopefully, CNN will be the last to know. As of this hour ABC, CBS, (MS)NBC, Fox, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and even Aljazeera have posted stories on Operation Scimitar. CNN remains clueless.
Elections were held in January, on schedule. Three months later the Transitional National Assembly endorsed the transitional government. The dominant parties have begun inclusive negotiations, in which outreach to Sunni Arabs is a major theme. A large number of Sunni groups and parties are now working to make sure that their voices are fully heard in the process of drafting a new constitution, and that they participate fully in the referendum to approve it and the elections slated for December.Indeed, just last week an agreement was achieved to expand the committee drafting the constitution to ensure full participation by the Sunni Arab community. This agreement, which the United Nations helped to facilitate, should encourage all Iraqis to press ahead with the drafting of the constitution by the Aug. 15 deadline.
As the process moves forward, there will no doubt be frustrating delays and difficult setbacks. But let us not lose sight of the fact that all over Iraq today, Iraqis are debating nearly every aspect of their political future.
U.N. satellite imagery experts have determined that material that could be used to make biological or chemical weapons and banned long-range missiles has been removed from 109 sites in Iraq, U.N. weapons inspectors said in a report obtained Thursday.A Hundred and Nine Sites!
What's missing?
Before the first Gulf War in 1991, those facilities played a major part in the production of precursors for Iraq's chemical warfare program.I interviewed a random liberal who had this to say:
Astonishing! You mean Iraq had a chemical warfare program? Wait . . . I feel dizzy . . . This can't be right . . . I'm going to go watch Fahrenheit 9/11 again to get my head straight.Meanwhile, Lance in Iraq (who head is already straight) has this to say:
I don't look for this to get much play on the "Bush lied about WMD" news outlets. But make no mistake - this is merely a portion of the evidence that will prove Colin Powell and President Bush correct on WMD.No doubt. And I still want to see what's buried under the poppies in Bekka Valley.
Never mind that the alternative to the massive assault on the city backed by artillery, tanks, and aircraft would either be a huge loss of American lives or simply allowing the al Qaeda cut-throat Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to keep it as the terrorist headquarters. Forget that the city was already crumbling from the neglect of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Today Fallujah is on the mend and then some, a symbol of renewal and American-Iraqi cooperation. ...As I traveled through the slowly repopulating city — about half of the original 250,000 are believed to have returned — I saw awesome scenes of destruction. But I also saw thriving markets, stores selling candy and ice cream, and scores of children delighted to see Americans. I did more waving than the beauty queen in the 4th of July parade and the kids squealed with delight when I took their picture.
Brent Batten: Iraq elections through the eyes of a U.S. soldier:
"The Iraqi soldiers in the picture with me were very proud of what they were doing. They kept telling me that the people at the polling site they were guarding did not have to worry because 'I shoot Ali Baba!' (They call all bad guys and the enemy 'Ali Baba.') They were proud to show me their well-maintained weapons and proud they were there to help secure their people's vote.Iraq situation better than painted is about Spc. Andrew Mackey who has a website full of pictures showing the good deeds American soldiers are doing:"It was a great experience to be out on the streets on election day in one of the most dangerous towns in the First Infantry Division's sector and see that the Iraqi people were not intimidated, that they were going to vote, even if they had to go to other neighborhoods to do it. I am proud to have helped make that happen."
"Most of the locals there appreciate us being there. My main job there is to interact with the locals and see that they get what they need – food and water, mainly," he said, estimating that about 85 percent of Iraqis welcome the presence of troops and appreciate their freedom from dictatorship.News from the front -- online Guardsmen Mark Miner keeps a web log of his experiences in Iraq is about Mark Miner who operates Boots in Baghdad:
Even so, Miner has been so inspired by the progress there so far that he's thinking of staying over for another year after his scheduled September release."Some of my friends are shocked when they hear me say that, but I just tell them I've got the best job in the world," said Miner. "I'm on the front lines of the war on terror. It's very fulfilling."
Iraq's defense minister announced a massive security operation on Thursday that will see more than 40,000 Iraqi troops deployed in the capital to hunt down insurgents and their weapons.God speed, guys.Sadoun al-Dulaimi said the force would include troops from the interior and defense ministries. It would be by far the largest anti-insurgent operation carried out in Baghdad by Iraqi security forces. ...
"We will also impose a concrete blockade around Baghdad, like a bracelet around an arm, God willing, and God be with us in our crackdown on the terrorists' infrastructure. No one will be able to penetrate this blockade," Dulaimi said.
"You will witness unprecedentedly strict security measures." ...
"These operations will aim at turning the government's role from defensive to offensive," he said.
Haditha, a town of about 100,000 people 200km northwest of Baghdad in the Euphrates valley, sits on a major supply route between Syria and the rebel stronghold of Ramadi and has long been suspected of being a militant haven.Here's an exchange you won't read in the MSM:
The American troops killed at least 10 suspected militants in Haditha, a Euphrates River city of 90,000 people _ one of whom told the Marines that insurgents had recently killed her husband.Speaking inside her home through a military interpreter, the woman moved her finger across her throat as she begged that her name not be used, indicating she could be killed for talking to U.S. forces. She later helped cook a breakfast of eggs and bread for the handful of Iraqi soldiers helping guard the street.
People have always been nice to us. But you can tell the (insurgents) have been doing some damage because people are real scared," said Marine Capt. Christopher Toland, of Austin, Texas, a platoon commander in the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment.
Who are the suicide bombers of Iraq? By the radicals' account, they are an internationalist brigade of Arabs, with the largest share in the online lists from Saudi Arabia and a significant minority from other countries on Iraq's borders, such as Syria and Kuwait. The roster of the dead on just one extremist Web site reviewed by The Washington Post runs to nearly 250 names, ranging from a 13-year-old Syrian boy said to have died fighting the Americans in Fallujah to the reigning kung fu champion of Jordan, who sneaked off to wage war by telling his family he was going to a tournament.Among the dead are students of engineering and English, the son of a Moroccan restaurateur and a smattering of Europeanized Arabs. There are also long lists of names about whom nothing more is recorded than a country of origin and the word "martyr." ...
"Many are students or from wealthy families -- the same sociological characteristics as the Sept. 11 hijackers," he said.
Set in 1980s Kurdistan during Iraq's war with Iran, "Kilometre Zero" is a road trip movie about a Kurd and an Arab asked to return the body of a fallen soldier to his family. It touches on some of the hardships of the Kurdish people, who were oppressed, often brutally, under Saddam's regime.What? A film that truthfully portrays life under a tyrant? I'm betting he won't be winning any awards whilst in France.
He had a few difficulties in completing the shoot, including the failure to find any statues of Saddam:
The crew spent two weeks searching for a sculptor willing to make a statue of the ousted dictator. One finally accepted and went to work in a walled garden, but then a security agent glimpsed the top of the towering statue over the wall.That's show business!The statue was confiscated, and the sculptor was thrown in jail. Saleem said he had some explaining to do before the sculptor was released.
The Kuwaiti charges include allegations that Saddam's regime kidnapped 605 Kuwaitis and nationals of other countries who lived in the oil-rich state at the time of the 1990-91 occupation, al-Othman said. The remains of 147 of them were found in mass graves in Iraq after Saddam was toppled in April 2003.Another 5,733 were tortured by electric shock, beaten, starved and sexually abused, and 139 were seriously injured by shooting or by land mines planted by Iraqis, he added.
Major Mark Bieger found this little girl after the car bomb that attacked our guys while kids were crowding around. The soldiers here have been angry and sad for two days. They are angry because the terrorists could just as easily have waited a block or two and attacked the patrol away from the kids. Instead, the suicide bomber drove his car and hit the Stryker when about twenty children were jumping up and down and waving at the soldiers.Read it all, as well as this post from John of Castle Argghhh!.
"Morale is weakening and there is (exhaustion or confusion) among the ranks on the mujahedeen, and some of the brother emirs are discriminating among them. God does not accept such actions," the writer says, according to an Associated Press translation of the copy provided by the military. "We have found emirs who are not fit for leadership."Update: The text of the entire letter is available here.He appears to give his side of a particular incident, saying his fighters got confused orders over whether to carry out suicide operations or go home and were abused by their superiors. "This came after humiliation and rude treatment and many other things. Who can tolerate all this?"
But Syria’s decision to re-establish ties after 23 years of severance could be key to easing the insurgency in Iraq and boosting regional security, given Syria’s 310-mile (499-kilometer) shared border with Iraq and its strong ties with Iraq’s Sunni tribes, analysts said.In related news, Iraq expects foreign troops to start pulling out mid-2006.
The former minister of human rights in the US-backed Iraqi administration, Baktiar Amin, said that, based on the AK-47 bullet casings and bullet holes left in the bones, gunmen opened fire on civilians, mostly women and children, killing them as they stood in open trenches."It was terrifying," Mr Amin said. "They came and basically sprayed them with bullets." ...
More than 290 mass graves found since Saddam was overthrown by US-led forces in April 2003 contained the bodies of at least 300,000 people believed to have been killed by the regime, Mr Amin said.
He believes the total number missing could be close to 1million.
Lawyers have interviewed more than 1000 witnesses in connection with the Anfal campaign, said judge Raid Jubi, chief investigator in the case. At least 14 tons of documents were collected.
Hat tip to Jeff Blogworthy.
Under Saddam Hussein, police and military forces were regarded with fear. They were not there to help but rather as instruments of a repressive state. On Jan. 30, however, police and military forces secured more than 5,600 polling sites. There were some 300 attacks by insurgents, according to U.S. officials, but none penetrated the inner cordon of polling sites manned by Iraqi police.There is no doubt that the growing force is becoming increasingly effective:"The Iraqi people saw incontrovertible evidence they were here to protect them," DeLuca said. "The atmosphere has changed dramatically. We have had ten to 12 days since the election where we've had 8,000 to 10,000 volunteers show up when we are recruiting."
Iraqi soldiers backed by U.S. helicopters have killed several suspected insurgents and seized 131 more in a dawn raid, capturing tons of explosives earmarked for attacks on the holy city of Kerbala, officials say. ...Seized along with the suspects were three tonnes of TNT explosive, at least three ready-made car bombs, hundreds of rocket-propelled grenades, several Katyusha rockets, more than 250,000 rounds of ammunition and other equipment.
In terms of the number of people detained and the amount of weaponry seized, it marks one of the most successful Iraqi-run operations in the past two years.
"Now if you tell a joke about a Sunni or a Kurd, you wonder whether you're hurting their feelings," said Joudi, 42, who's a Shiite. "People are just not relaxed about that stuff anymore." ...Perhaps there should be a PC Scale of Freedom — the PC the population the higher the freedom index."I don't want them to misunderstand me, thinking I'm a racist or something," said Ali Razak, 25, a Shiite college student who gave up ethnic jokes after bumping heads with classmates. ...
"All our old jokes were about the Kurds, and they were just as bad about the Arabs, but it was always OK," al Qassab said. "But now who dares to tell a joke about the Kurds? There are sensitivities now, and even when we don't talk about it, we can feel it."
But still, a few jokes go on:
Those who still tell ethnic or sectarian jokes have tailored them to the new circumstances. The new Shiite stereotype is an Iran-loving, doctrinaire believer who wants to outlaw anything that's fun. Kurds are portrayed as demanding, wily strangers who don't really want to be part of Iraq.And with Sunnis the backbone of the insurgency, the proverbial Dulaimi tribesman is blamed for all of Iraq's ills. One joke tells of a Dulaimi blowing himself up in an empty field because he'd heard that the grass was imported from America.
Another popular joke concerns two Dulaimi friends who visit a Shiite mosque and hear worshipers crying for men named Hussein and Ali. The two Sunnis don't know that the mourning is for the two most important Shiite saints, who died centuries ago. One Dulaimi turns to the other and says, "Hey, they're looking for the people who killed these Hussein and Ali guys. Let's get out of here before they blame us!"
In Baghdad, hundreds of power workers marched through the streets shouting "No, no to terror!" to protest terrorist attacks that have been targeting those rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure.
Even Reuters is forced to report some successes:
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid spent Tuesday in Iraq, talking to the country’s leaders, U.S. soldiers and looking at everyday life on the streets, where one image stood out.Good Lord, how could he be surprised at this? In a country filled with terrorists and criminals, why would a citizen go unarmed? How else could the good people of Baghdad defend themselves like this:“The guns,” he said. “Every place you went, there were people with guns. Men, women, young people and middle-aged people. It was remarkable.”
Shopkeepers and residents on one of Baghdad's main streets pulled out their own guns Tuesday and killed three insurgents when hooded men began shooting at passers-by, giving a rare victory to civilians increasingly frustrated by the violence bleeding Iraq. ...HT to Carpe BonumA forceful citizen response is rare, but not unheard of in a country where conflict has become commonplace and the law allows each home to have a weapon. Early this month, police said townsmen in Wihda, 25 miles south of Baghdad, attacked a group of militants believed planning to raid the town and killed seven.
A 240-strong Iraqi commando unit engaged in heavy fighting before seizing the camp, 160km (100 miles) north-west of Baghdad, on Tuesday.Inside the camp they found passports from Morocco, Algeria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Syria, as well as an Egyptian casualty.Iraqi officials confirmed that at least seven Iraqi commandos died, alongside insurgents from a number of countries. ...
After encountering heavy fire from an estimated 100 insurgents, they called in US ground and air reinforcements.
Also:
In a separate operation on Tuesday in the northern city of Mosul, the US military said, 70 suspected insurgents were arrested by Iraqi forces.
To may outsiders, like those who protested last year, who will protest today. This was a fools errand, it brought nothing but death and destruction. I am sheltered in Iraq, but I know how the world feels, how people have come to either love or hate Bush, as though heis the emobdiement of this war. As though this war is part of Bush, they forget the over twenty million Iraqis, they forget the Middle Easterners, they forget the average person on the street, the average man with the average dream. ...Our cities are smoking, our graveyards full, and terrorists in our midst. But we are not defeated. We are not down, we are not regretful. We are not going to surrender. For all that the two years have brought, the greatest thign they have given us is a future, and a view of the finish line.
More than 2,000 people demonstrated Tuesday at the site of a car bombing south of Baghdad that killed 125 people, chanting "No to terrorism!"Imagine that.
"Iraq," he says, "is a museum of crimes."The layout of the museum is a work in progress. Amin is assembling a data base that will list all the dictator's murders; a delegation is being sent to Bosnia and to Kosovo to learn how to organize the data. "We are working with bones, with teeth," he says. "It's hard work to identify victims."
How many are there? Amin does not know. He says his ministry was sifting through 150,000 files and 60 kilograms, or 130 pounds, of material recently delivered by the Red Cross. Perhaps half a million Kurds were killed, he suggested, and hundreds of thousands of Shiites. "For the total numbers, we need time" he says. ...
"We owe our freedom to Americans," the minister says.
"The real occupation is not theirs, but the one we suffered for 35 years by the group of thugs who brutalized my nation."It is hard to argue with Amin. He wields the weapon of truth with directness....
How many such stories are there? Too many for the Germans and the French to be so comfortable in their conviction that the war was wrong. This war was falsely portrayed, poorly planned, and hurt by hubris. But it was the right war.
Some people in Europe should have the courage to tell that to George W. Bush this week.
The United Iraqi Alliance will have to form coalitions with other parties to govern, as a two-thirds majority of delegates is needed to pass legislation in the new parliament.This will mean weeks, perhaps months, of negotiations before a new Iraqi government is confirmed in office, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Baghdad.
MPs' first job will be to appoint a presidential council, made up of a president and two vice-presidents.
They will in turn appoint a prime minister - the most important position in the new government - and a cabinet.
Members of the alliance party - which is made up of a coalition of Shia parties - have been meeting this week to discuss their candidate for prime minister.
The current interim Vice-President, Ibrahim Jaafari, is seen as a favourite although he is being challenged by Ahmed Chalabi, who once had close ties with the Pentagon but has since lost US support.
The key question for coalition commanders is how well the inexperienced Iraqi units will fare against a committed and professional insurgent force in the centre of the capital. The handover plan is bold. Within a week the 1,600 men of the Iraqi 302nd and 303rd battalions will have assumed responsibility for an area within a 2.5-mile radius of Haifa Street. By the summer a 25 sq km (9.6 square mile) swath of Central Baghdad is due to be handed over to the Baghdad Division, comprising three brigades of Iraqi troops.That is an exit strategy -- baby steps to get these people back on their feet, not abandoning them the way Ted Kennedy left Mary Jo to drown in Chappaquiddick.
In the week since national elections, police and Iraqi National Guardsmen say that they have received more tips from the public, resulting in more arrests and greater effectiveness in their efforts to weaken the violent insurgency rocking the country.Read it all, especially the part about a new national hero in the person of Abdul Amir. The end result:None of the officials said they believed the violence was over....
Reports from Iraqis reflect a similar shift in attitudes in large areas of the north and south, although authorities acknowledged that in some parts of the country, people remain hostile to the emerging Iraqi authority and supportive, to varying degrees, of the insurgents. ...
"You can feel the situation has changed," said Haider Abdul Hussein, 30, a pharmacy owner. "People seem to linger on the street longer. You can feel the momentum, the sense of optimism."
On a board at the Yarmouk police station, the daily shift notices are penciled in next to a handwritten list of funerals: Patrolman Bilal Jassim, shot; Patrolman Mushtaq Talib, ambushed in patrol car; Patrolman Luay Ubaid, killed by roadside bomb. The list has now grown to nine names, including Amir's."But if we opened up the recruiting right now, we would be swamped," Latif said.
A day or so after the elections, guards at an Iraqi training base watched as a crowd of more than 2,000 gathered outside their gates.Read it all.I have been a guard on duty, and I can tell you from personal experience, when a crowd begins to gather it is unsettling. In Germany once, thousands of protesters gathered at the entrance to our post on a peace march.
So just days after the elections here, the crowd gathered around the entrance to this military base. What did the masses -- with fingers freshly stained from the elections -- want? They wanted to join the Iraqi security forces.
Sights and sounds of millions of Iraqis marching toward voting stations to choose a government at home in Basra, Mosul, Baghdad and abroad in Syria, in Jordan, in Iran and in cities of the Arabian Gulf, were filmed, photographed, recorded and absorbed by vast swaths of populations deprived of any choice. This cannot pass without consequences....The Lebanese are openly demanding an end to Syrian occupation. Egyptians are raising their voice in objection to a perennial presidency by one man. Moroccans were aghast at the costs of the top family -- $120 million per year -- recently revealed by newspapers at home.
Interestingly, the autocratic governments of Syria, Egypt, Libya and many other countries are all talking loudly about reforms to escape a heat that is not going away soon.
If anything, Iraqi's successful elections will raise the temperature.
Before making the three-mile walk to the polling station with her husband and two oldest sons, Sabria sent her youngest, Youssef, 16, to fill the urn at the communal pump. Within minutes he lay dead, the victim of a mortar bomb.Sabria washed her son's body, covered it with a white burial shroud and arranged for it to be taken to the nearby cemetery. Then, remarkably, she went off to vote.
Holding a Kurdish flag and wailing in grief, she entered the polling station in the northern Shorjah district, crying: "I will never put this flag down. Saddam threw me out of my house and home and now he's killed my son. Voting won't bring my Youssef back, but it must stop Saddam from coming back."
"We will build a statue for Bush," said Ali Fadel, the former provincial council chairman. "He is the symbol of freedom."
Overwhelmingly, Arab channels and newspapers greeted the elections as a critical event with major implications for the region, and many put significant resources into reporting on the voting, providing blanket coverage throughout the country that started about a week ago. Newspapers kept wide swaths of their pages open, and the satellite channels dedicated most of the day to coverage of the polls....Far from the almost nightly barrage of blood and tears, Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera, the kings of Arab news, on Sunday barely showed the aftermath of insurgent attacks....
"Things used to be a negotiation between political parties where you scratch my back and I scratch your back," noted one commentator, Abas al-Bayati, on Al Jazeera. "Now, this new government will approach all the parties as having the backing of the people. It will have legitimacy." And that legitimacy should allow the government to face down the insurgents, he added.
If you look at these elections, they are a step in the path that I laid out with the Iraqi leadership 15 months ago. And everybody's been saying at every one of these steps that we'd never do it.Keep this in mind while people like "blonde in the pond" Kennedy are accusing the president of not having a plan and of needing to cement an "exit strategy".
- They said we'd never write a constitution. We wrote a constitution on time.
- Then they said we'd never appoint the interim government by the end of May. We appointed it on June first.
- They said you'll never give up soverignty on June 30th. We did it two days early.
- Then everybody said we'll never have these elections. We've had these elections.
Forbidden to drive their cars to the polls for fear of car bombs, the Iraqi people walked to make their voice heard.
Some walked many miles in order make their voice heard.
Undaunted by long lines, they waited patiently to make their voice heard.
The terrorists promised rivers of blood and some were hurt. Reports at this time say 9 bombers murderers killed 35 voters. Yet still the Iraqi people lined up to make their voice heard.
Even after a promised attack stained the streets with the blood of patriots, the Iraqi people lined up to make their voice heard.
The Iraqi people lined up to make their voice heard even though it had to be done under the protective eye of the Iraqi Police.
Even though they had to submit to searches of their persons, the Iraqi people lined up to make their voice heard.
No hardship was too great from keeping the Iraqi people from lining up to make their voice heard.
They did not complain about having to show proof that they are who they say they are.
This soldier crawled to the polling station in an act of respect as he went to make his voice heard.
After they acted to make their voice heard, many celebrated in the streets.
With unbelieving joy, they made their voice heard.
With pride and incredible bravery, the Iraqi people made their voice heard.
With joy in their hearts, the Iraqi people made their voice heard.
From one free people to another, welcome.
The right-wing blogosphere, like President Bush, considers the elections a triumph for democracy. The top liberal bloggers, Daily Kos, Atrios, Josh Marshall, knowing better, are either ignoring the elections or have moved on.Yet if the vote was a failure, is there any doubt that the lefty bloggers would have been all over it?
Ah well, for both sides of the issue Jeralyn Merritt from TalkLeft and Jeff Jarvis from BuzzMachine will be on MSNBC between 5:30 and 6 today.
Behold the Iraqi people; now you know their true metal.From Free Iraqi:
This is my Eid and I felt like a king walking in his own kingdom. I saw the same look of confidence and satisfaction in the eyes of all people I met. As I left one of the gurads said to me as he handed me back my cellular phone,"God bless you and your beloved ones. We don't know how to thank you. Please excuse any inconvinience on our part. We wish we didn't have to search you or limit your freedom. You are heroes" I was struck with surprise and felt ashamed. This man was risking his life all these hours in what has become the utmost target for all terrorists in Iraq and yet he's apologizing and calling us heroes. I thanked him back and told him that he and his comrads are the true heroes and that we can never be grateful enough for their services.From Iraq the Model:
I walked forward to my station, cast my vote and then headed to the box, where I wanted to stand as long as I could, then I moved to mark my finger with ink, I dipped it deep as if I was poking the eyes of all the world's tyrants.Blogger Democracy in Iraq has changed the name -- to Democracy in Iraq (is Here!):I put the paper in the box and with it, there were tears that I couldn't hold; I was trembling with joy and I felt like I wanted to hug the box but the supervisor smiled at me and said "brother, would you please move ahead, the people are waiting for their turn".
Yes brothers, proceed and fill the box!
These are stories that will be written on the brightest pages of history.
I am very tired, but I am at peace, something I havn't felt in this regard before. I am happy to report that I found very few people during my post-voting trip through Baghdad who had not voted. I even got a few to "convert" and go out and vote. When confronted with the fact that staying away from voting was futile, some who had opposed the election relented, and went and made their mark.From Hammorabi:Even now, I have no idea who is going to win, but it really isn't important. It is enough for me to know that our new government won't be the result of a sham election, that it will be the will of the people.
Today we hit back in the heart of the terrorists and the tyrants!Today is the day in which the souls of our martyrs comforted!
Today those who were killed in Iraq or wounded among our friends from the USA and other allies, who helped us to reach this day, are with us again to inscribe their names with Gold for ever!
Today we challenged the killers and terrorists and foot on them with our shoes!...
God bless Iraq and America.
I am happy to report...no I am honored to report that I have cast my ballot in our election. It is such an amazing feeling to be able to have some control over the destiny of my nation, a feeling I have not known before! I was one of the first ones to report to our local voting station, and I placed my vote, my stained finger is proof...
More than one would think, I bet, as I whisper, "Go with God. Be brave. Be safe."
From Iraq the Model:
On Sunday, the sun will rise on the land of Mesopotamia. I can't wait, the dream is becoming true and I will stand in front of the box to put my heart in it.From Free Iraqi:
Now, and thanks to other humans, not from my area, religion and who don't even speak my language, I and all Iraqis have the real chance to make the change. Now I OWN my home and I can decide who's going to run things in it and how and I won't waste that chance. Tomorrow as I cast my vote, I'll regain my home. I'll regain my humanity and my dignity, as I stand and fulfill part of my responsibilities to this part of the large brotherhood of humanity.From Democracy in Iraq:
Those of us in Iraq are gathering up our will and are ready and willing to serve our nation. I will be among the first, and I hope to continue my efforts at encouraging people to partake in this miracle.From Loser's Blog:
Yesterday I've seen on TV hope and smile return to Iraq faces even tears in there eyes, a thing we even couldn't dream about it finally come true…From Life From Dallas:Iraqis at different countries along the world decided there future by voting :)
I'm full of hope and fear. I know the terrorists will try to disturb this historical day. I know people will vote with their lives. This is when my fears overshadow my hopes.Still, I hope many Iraqis make it to the polls. Today, Iraq needs the brave hearts of its people.
Absentee polls will open again in 14 countries for the last day of voting on Sunday. In Australia, almost 8,000 expats have cast their ballots.Kurdistan Bloggers Union posted pictures taken from the polling area in Manchester, and there are more Brit pics from Daily Life of a London Kurd.
Across the Unitied States, nearly 26,000 people are expected to vote with some driving as much as 14 hours to do so.
These are members of the Assyrian Democratic Movement celebrating after voting in California.
This man is wearing buttons urging people to vote in the southern city of Basra.
Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar proudly displays his stained finger, indicating that he cast his vote.
From Hammorabi:
Let them bomb and kill us. It will not deter us!
Let them send their dogs to suck our bones. We care not!
Let them bark. It will not frighten us.
Let them see how civilised to be free and democratic!
Let them die by our vote tomorrow! It is the magic bullet which will kill them!Welcome New Iraq.
Welcome freedom and democracy.
Welcome peace and prosperity for all nations with out exception but terrorists!
For instance, he tracked down a comprehensive guide to the Iraqi political parties at Chrenkoff's place.
As if that isn't enough, in the same post he points to a compilation of Iraqi television ads compiled and translated by MEMRI. These are very moving and well worth the view (I've seen them three times so far!).
This time it is Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf, also known as Abu Omar al-Kurdi, who was captured by Iraqi forces:
Al-Jaaf was responsible for 32 car bombings that killed hundreds of Iraqis, the statement said. The suspect "confessed to building approximately 75 percent of the car bombs used in attacks in Baghdad since March 2003," Allawi spokesman Thaer al-Naqib said in the statement.There were more arrests made, and taken together it seems that this must be a severe blow to al-Zarqawi's organization:Al-Jaaf was "the most lethal of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's lieutenants," the statement said. He "claims responsibility for some of the most ruthless attacks on Iraqi police forces and police stations."
Two other militants linked to al-Zarqawi's terror group also have been arrested, authorities said - a man described as the chief of al-Zarqawi's propaganda operations and one of the group's weapons suppliers.It is also rather important to note that these arrests were made by Iraqi forces, not coalition. High profile, high impact arrests made by Iraqis as they tighten the noose around al-Zarqawi as national elections draw close.
According to the latest poll conducted in Baghdad, Mosul and Basra by Women for Women International, "94% of women surveyed want to secure legal rights for women; 84% of women want the right to vote on the final constitution; [and] nearly 80% of women believe that their participation in local and national councils should not be limited... despite increasing violence, particularly against women, 90.6% of Iraqi women reported that they are hopeful about their future".And what do the Feminists for Iraq have to say? Oh wait -- there aren't any.
Last Wednesday, USA Today covered the story with a decidedly negative spin. Headlined Lengthy ballots, ad blitzes contribute to confusion, the story concentrated on the confusion among the newly-liberated citizenry and states:
Iraqis have no experience with free elections. The last ballot, in 2002, had one choice: Saddam Hussein. On Jan. 30, they'll confront a lengthy and potentially mystifying ballot. Violence and security concerns have added to the confusion. Most voters seem to have a muddled view of how to vote.Yes, "potentially mystifying" is the news here, with violence somehow equating to voter confusion. USA Today seems to be trying to make the Iraqi citizen seem like a caricature of a thick-skulled red-stater.
Compare and contrast the reporting by the Washington Times last Thursday, in a story headlined 80 percent say they plan to vote:
A clear majority of Iraqis said they plan to vote in the Jan. 30 elections and remain hopeful about their country's future despite a murderous insurgency, according to a poll to be released today.While the USA Today ignored most of the pesky facts in the poll results, the Washington Times published quite a number. I, of course, went to the source (requires Microsoft Powerpoint to view) and pulled some results of my own:The countrywide survey, conducted by the Washington-based International Republican Institute (IRI), also found increased popular awareness of the election, closer identification with political parties and a growing level of trust in Iraqi institutions such as the interim government, the police and the election commission.
Also, while USA Today cited one statistic and filled a column with dour predictions and gloomy prognostications, the Washington Times cited actual results of the survey. Nor can I find any other story in the USA Today that covers this poll.
USA Today should be ashamed but I doubt that shame is to be found anywhere in those offices.
The officials said Wednesday that final arrangements for the voting had not been worked out, including where polling places will be set up in the five U.S. cities: Detroit; Los Angeles; Nashville, Tennessee; New York; and Washington.Iraq's interim government will also allow its citizens to vote in Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Jordan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
