Politics of the surge

Bad news for the Democrats is always good news for the country. And the bad news is that the latest strategy in Iraq seems to be working. Even Der Speigel, the German publication and certain writers for the NY Times can’t help but notice that Iraq is a becoming a safer place. And of course the Left is rushing out to blunt the good news and provide al Qaeda, the Democrat Party’s military arm, some hope. from the Washington Examiner;

Pro-surge analysts contend al Qaeda is on its heels and desperate in the face of a six-month-old U.S. troop reinforcement.

But Anthony H. Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, offered a gloomy assessment.

“Al Qaeda is far from defeated. It still has major support from some tribes, and significant al Qaeda operating areas exist,” Cordesman said. The struggle against al Qaeda has become perhaps the most important military objective in Iraq. The outcome will likely determine whether warring sects can reconcile and whether U.S. troops can start coming home next year.

[…]

While the U.S. command has trumpeted the killing and capturing of scores of al Qaeda leaders this summer, Cordesman concluded, “Al Qaeda continues to show considerable resilience in rebuilding its leadership and key cadres.”

As if to underscore Cordesman’s analysis, al Qaeda struck this week in what may turn out to be its most deadly coordinated attack of the war. Four massive truck bombs exploded in three Iraq villages near the Syrian border. The death toll may reach 500.

So because the cowards are still able to attack unarmed citizens with massive stocks of home-made explosives, that proves we’re not doing damage to al Qaeda.

Curt of Flopping Aces illustrates the internals from the latest propaganda poll from CNN;

Quite curious how in the world CNN can spin a poll where they ask a question of only half a sample and proclaim it proof that America distrusts our military leaders:

Of course, the reason that Americans can’t trust their military officers (if it were even true) is because they don’t get the news of the war from outlets like CNN. they have to get the truth from sources like Bill Roggio;

Al Qaeda in Iraq continues to face opposition from Sunni insurgent groups. In the Buhriz district in Diyala province, the 1920s Revolution Brigades assisted Iraqi police in fending off an attack of upwards of 60 al Qaeda fighters. Multinational Forces Iraq identified the Sunni insurgents as the “Baqubah Guardians,” however IraqSlogger reported the al-Ishreen Revolution Brigades (1920s Revolution Brigades) engaged in the fight. Multinational Forces Iraq described the fighting, and notes the coordination between the insurgent group, the local police, and US attack helicopters:

And you have to red all the way to the bottom of the Examiner story to read;

“I think that we are within sight of defeating this organization in Iraq if we continue to press, but it will be able to conduct periodic spectacular attacks for a long time to come,” he said. Cordesman conceded that the six-month surge of five U.S. Army brigades and 30,000 extra Iraqi troops in Baghdad “did enable [the coalition] to make some gains against al Qaeda.”

Most analysts also agree that Anbar province, once the most restive Sunni area in Iraq, has become one of the quietest, as Sunni tribal leaders end an alliance with al Qaeda and join the coalition. Attacks in its two largest cities — Ramadi and Fallujah — are down sharply.

And outlets like the Washington Post and the Associated Press still call al Qaeda “Sunni insurgents” just in case someone might get the idea that this isn’t a civil war like it was a year ago;

U.S. troops clashed with suspected Sunni insurgents holed up in a mosque north of Baghdad and launched an air-to-ground Hellfire missile into the structure. One American soldier was killed in the fighting, the military said Friday.

The soldier was killed and another was wounded when troops stationed at a nearby outpost came under heavy small-arms fire from the Honest Mohammed Mosque late Thursday in Tarmiyah as they targeted about six insurgents who were believed sheltered inside, according to the military.

And the Washington Post buries on page 18 that there is a coalition taking root among Sunnis, Kurds and some of the Shi’ite factions in Iraq;

As Iraqi politicians flew north on Thursday to survey the devastation in two villages ruined by bombings, Shiite and Kurdish political leaders in Baghdad announced the formation of a new alliance intended to begin mending the fractured government and defuse the forces behind such violence.

For weeks, politicians have discussed an alliance among the four leading Shiite and Kurdish parties, with the hope that marginalized Sunni factions would join the coalition. But politicians from the largest Sunni bloc in parliament said they would remain apart from the new group, asserting that the ruling Shiites still have not met their demands for greater participation. The Sunnis’ stance effectively undermines the coalition’s chances of breaking the political gridlock that has frustrated U.S. and Iraqi officials.

And of course, they blunt the good news with minority opinions where they should find some hope instead;

“We have lost hope, frankly, that this coalition will be the ideal solution to the strangling political crisis that the country is going through,” said Abdul Kareem Samarrae, a Sunni lawmaker, on al-Hurra television. “We hope that this is a genuine chance to solve those problems, but we think that this is merely a political cover for a government in its last few days or weeks.”

What the media and the Democrats have disregarded is that the reason the surge is working is because Americans have demonstrated our resolve to the Iraqis – for the last three years iraqis have been reticient about making any real commitment to their own security because of the cut-and-run talk that pours out of the crooked mouths of Demorats and their willing accomplices in the press.

The surge proves to Iraqis that this President and this administration is committed to the Iraqi people, while the Democrats are committed to their defeat – and the defeat of this nation as well.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Foreign Policy, Media, Politics, Terror War