Major Victory in Iraq
Operatives who could once disappear back into the crowd after committing an increasingly atrocious attack no longer find safe haven among the Iraqis who live in the southern part of Baghdad. They are being hunted down and killed. Or, if they are lucky, captured by Americans. - Michael YonOsama, read it and weep
Article from:
Andrew Bolt
November 02, 2007
THERE is a reason Iraq has almost disappeared as an election issue. Here it is:
The battle is actually over. Iraq has been won.
I know this will seem to many of you an insane claim. Ridiculous!
After all, haven't you read countless stories that Iraq is a "disaster", turned by a "civil war" into a "killing field"?
Didn't Labor leader Kevin Rudd, in one of his few campaign references to Iraq, say it was the "greatest . . . national security policy disaster that our country has seen since Vietnam"?
You have. And you have been misled.
Here is just the latest underreported news, out this week.
Just 27 American soldiers were killed in action in Iraq in October -- the lowest monthly figure since March last year. (This is a provisional figure and may alter over the next week.)
The number of Iraqi civilians killed last month -- mostly by Islamist and fascist terrorists -- was around 760, according to Iraqi Government sources. That is still tragically high, but the monthly toll has plummeted since January's grim total of 1990.
What measures of success do critics of Iraq's liberation now demand?
Violence is falling fast. Al Qaida has been crippled. The Shiites, Kurds and Marsh Arabs no longer face genocide.
What's more, the country has stayed unified. The majority now rules. Despite that, minority Sunni leaders are co-operating in government with Shiite ones. There is no civil war. The Kurds have not broken away. Iran has not turned Iraq into its puppet.
And the country's institutions are getting stronger. The Iraqi army is now at full strength, at least in numbers. The country has a vigorous media. A democratic constitution has been adopted and backed by a popular vote. Election after election has Iraqis turning up in their millions.
Add it all up. Iraq not only remains a democracy, but shows no sign of collapse. I repeat: the battle for a free Iraq has been won.
Now the task is one familiar to every democracy, and especially any in the Middle East: eternal vigilance.
If you doubt my assessment of Iraq, ask Osama bin Laden.
Al-Qaida's media arm last week released a video on the internet in which bin Laden -- or a man masquerading as him -- revealed how disastrously his war against democracy in Iraq was going.
He called for intensified fighting against the Americans and pleaded for Muslims in the region to come help.
"Where are the soldiers of the Levant and the reinforcements from Yemen?" he demanded.
"Where are the knights of Egypt and the lions of Hejaz (in Saudi Arabia)? Come to the aid of your brothers in Iraq."
Bin Laden even let slip how badly al-Qaida has been mauled by the Sunni sheiks who have stopped fighting the US troops and turned on bin Laden's killers instead, by pleading for "unity" from the Sunnis and admitting "mistakes" had been made.
Take that as an admission of defeat for the terrorists, and a sign of victory for Iraq and its liberators.
To talk like this will, I know, choke many critics of the war with fury.
How angry so many are to hear good news from Iraq. And how suspicious is their reaction. Don't we all actually wish for Iraq to be democratic, safe and free from tyranny?
But, they'll splutter, but, but, but . . .I can hear them already.
But the bloodshed in Iraq is terrible! Call that victory?
And, yes, the killings are ghastly. Iraq is nowhere near safe, and our help is still needed to make it so. Yet the violence now does not threaten the country or its government.
Go back to the days when American forces were fighting Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi army for control of Najaf, or al-Qaida and its allies for Fallujah.
Such battles for territory are over. Al-Sadr has maintained a ceasefire for more than two years, and is even part of Iraq's Government. American troops are now based in his Shiite heartland of Sadr City, and no Iraqi city is now under terrorist control as Fallujah once was.
"Insurgents" rule nowhere.
Read the Rest:
Join Andrew on blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt
Related:
Michael Yon is not bank-rolled by any MSN honchos - and he has a tip jar. :) IMHO, we owe Mr. Yon deeply for his blood, sweat, toil, and tears - but money will have to suffice.
posted by 10 men at 6:29 AM
3 Comments:
In a word: OWNED!
In a word: OWNED!
I will agree with you for the sake of my argument that there is a diminishing amount of violence in Iraq, but to judge the success of the war based on the lessening violence and soldier deaths is a misconception. Success of the war is solely based on the 18 Congressional benchmarks that were originally proposed by the Bush administration and the Iraqi government.
The 18 benchmarks that were passed by Congress at the beginning of the U.S. invasion of Iraq were viewed as reasonable outcomes for America’s time and money spent in Iraq. All progress reviews have been based on these benchmarks because that is what they were intended for. We are not winning, let alone have we won the war, because these benchmarks only have a tentative fifty percent passing rate. The death toll of soldiers should not be a measure of success of the war, but should be a measure of how much we are sacrificing in order to finish what we have started.
Everything that you discussed in your blog post, for example: elections in Iraq, government style and violence, are covered in the 18 congressional benchmarks. The passing and failing of these benchmarks were released in early September.
Enacting and implementing legislation establishing an Independent High Electoral Commission, provincial elections law, provincial council authorities, and a date for provincial elections (failed… election law has recently been drafted). Enacting and implementing legislation establishing a strong militia disarmament program to ensure that such security forces are accountable only to the central government and loyal to the constitution of Iraq (failed). Ensuring that Iraqi Security Forces are providing even-handed enforcement of the law (failed). Reducing the level of sectarian violence in Iraq and eliminating militia control of local security (Passed only the reduction of violence). http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/iraq/2007/FinalBenchmarkReport.pdf
You said that violence does not effect the government there, but a true government has not yet been established, just a mock up one. You also talk about how Iraqis are fighting over who gets the oil in the country, but there is a benchmark specifically made for that, too.
When the government says that these benchmarks are for judging success, and they only have a fifty percent passing rate, how can we be winning the war? Less death does not equal victory.
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