Crossposted from Flopping Aces

Charles Krauthammer writes a wonderful piece in the WaPo today about our victories in Iraq: (h/t RovinsWorld)

It does not have the drama of the Inchon landing or the sweep of the Union comeback in the summer of 1864. But the turnabout of American fortunes in Iraq over the past several months is of equal moment — a war seemingly lost, now winnable. The violence in Iraq has been dramatically reduced. Political allegiances have been radically reversed. The revival of ordinary life in many cities is palpable. Something important is happening.

And what is the reaction of the war critics? Nancy Pelosi stoutly maintains her state of denial, saying this about the war just two weeks ago: “This is not working. . . . We must reverse it.” A euphemism for “abandon the field,” which is what every Democratic presidential candidate is promising, with variations only in how precipitous to make the retreat.

How do they avoid acknowledging the realities on the ground? By asserting that we have not achieved political benchmarks — mostly legislative actions by the Baghdad government — that were set months ago. And that these benchmarks are paramount. And that all the current progress is ultimately vitiated by the absence of centrally legislated national reconciliation.

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So, just as we have learned this hard lesson of the disconnect between political benchmarks and real stability, the critics now claim the reverse — that benchmarks are what really count.

This is to fundamentally mistake ends and means. The benchmarks would be a wonderful shortcut to success in Iraq. But it is folly to abandon the pursuit of that success when a different route, more arduous but still doable, is at hand and demonstrably working.

Dems Will Win (1000+ posts) Thu Nov-22-07 06:00 PM

Don’t Thank the Surge for the Drop in Iraq Violence, It’s Mostly al-Sadr’s Militia Laying Low til February, then expect the level to go back to where it was. Al-Sadr was trying to defuse Shia in-fighting between the Badr and Sadr Brigades, but he also knows the US Army can’t keep the Surge going past the March troop rotation, and that it’s even getting tough to find more mercenaries to maintain the occupation.

So he’s also waiting to attack when we are already on a trajectory to begin drawing down troop levels. The al-Sadr Brigade numbers about 200,000 fighters, now well-armed from oil theft revenue.

That’s the real reason there was such a “phenomenal” drop in violence in the last couple of months, plus the Surge itself helped finish the sectarian division of Baghdad, which is now a collection of armed camps patrolled mostly by Sunni and Shia militia.

The Americans are now mostly back in the forts, they are no longer in the streets as they were in September. The Surge was actually a total FLOP.

When there is one violent incident in Iraq the left say its proof that the surge isn’t working but at the same time they are practically salivating at the thought of more violence when al-Sadr supposedly end the ceasefire.

Isn’t that sad?

Things did not go as expected in Iraq, as happens with most wars.  Recall your history lessons on the Civil War, it was supposed to be a cake walk for the North, that turned out a bit different also.

But we adapted and overcame.  Bush got rid of those not doing the job and put in someone who did do it.  That is what great leaders do, and now instead of celebrating the huge victories in Iraq all the left can do is make excuses.

Just sad.

Gauis at Blue Crab Boulevard:

Denial may not be a river in Egypt but the Democrats appear to have immersed themselves in it nonetheless.

the attempt by Democrats to defund victory is easily the most callous political act since the American left forced the Democrats to abandon South Vietnam and Cambodia to the horrors that followed.

Bill Roggio with the real surge:

Over the last year the Iraqi Army has grown to 12 divisions, 41 brigades, 123 battalions, and four ISOF battalions. This is a 20 percent increase in units and a doubling of the ISOF. This does not include the three former strategic infrastructure brigades (17 battalions) that have been transferred to the Iraqi Army and are currently being retrained. While the Iraqi Army officer and NCO ranks remain undermanned, the overall unit manning has grown to 108 percent during that time. This does not mention the steadily increasing Iraqi Army competence that can only come from combat and counterinsurgency experience…

This is the real surge — a surge in training and building of the Iraqi Army. Security in Iraq improves with an increased long-term security presence; a security presence that will increasingly be shouldered by Iraqi troops. The five US surge brigades were not only brought in to buy the Iraqi government time to sort out the political situation, they were brought in to buy the Iraqi Army time to expand. The five US surge brigades are doing some much needed housecleaning in Iraq’s problem areas, freeing up Iraqi Army formations to provide cadre for new forming units, and providing additional training partners for the new Iraqi Army formations thus facilitating the accelerated expansion. The Iraqi Army is replacing the US forces departing Iraqi by the end of 2008 at rate of two Iraqi brigades for one US brigade.