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Home Front: Politix
Wash Post admits Surge is working, critics of the surge were wrong
2007-10-14
NEWS COVERAGE and debate about Iraq during...Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), challenging the testimony of Gen. David H. Petraeus, asserted that "civilian deaths have risen" during this year's surge of American forces.

A month later, there isn't much room for such debate, at least about the latest figures. In September, Iraqi civilian deaths were down 52 percent from August and 77 percent from September 2006... U.S. soldiers killed in action numbered 43 -- down 43 percent from August and 64 percent from May...This doesn't necessarily mean the war is being won. U.S. military commanders have said that no reduction in violence will be sustainable unless Iraqis reach political solutions -- and there has been little progress on that front. Nevertheless, it's looking more and more as though those in and outside of Congress who last month were assailing Gen. Petraeus's credibility and insisting that there was no letup in Iraq's bloodshed were -- to put it simply -- wrong.
[the new Dem talking points will be..
-it wasn't worth it
- Bush promised it would be easy
- the Iraqi govt is still corrupt
- we may win in Iraq but make the region worse]
Posted by:mhw

#18  TOPIX NEWS > US FUTURE IS GENOCIDAL WARFARE UNLESS WE GET A PRO-US GOVT IN WASHINGTON DC. USA kills World or World kills USA; + GLOBAL RESEARCH.CA > THE NEW WORLD ORDER IS BEING FORGED IN THE GULF; + YNETNEWS > OP-ED > THE GOP AIMS TO SELF-DESTRUCT. The GOP demands to lose in 2008??? GOP wins empires + foreigns wars, DEMS bureaucratize and Governmentize and Nanny-ise.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2007-10-14 23:38  

#17   the Iraqi govt is still corrupt

As opposed to the American Congress. When the Donks ran on the platform of the Culture of Corruption(tm), they weren't making a critical statement about reducing it, rather they were promoting to expand it like any other entitlement program.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2007-10-14 20:11  

#16  the Iraqi govt is still corrupt

I doubt the Left would make this point. It tends to exonerate our military and demeans their Little Brown Brothers™. Moreover, it would be a frank admission that Islam might just have some serious character flaws and that would not sit very well the the whole meme of it being the Religion of Peace. [spit]

no reduction in violence will be sustainable unless Iraqis reach political solutions -- and there has been little progress on that front

Again, this is not really our fault, save that we haven't deposed Nouri al-Maliki for corruption. The lack of political solutions is an intrinsic feature of Islam and its inimicality to democracy. Yet, another notion that the Left desperately tries to ignore.

True victory is in showing all that Iraqi nationalism is superior to any other sectarian agenda.

So long as assholes like Khomeini are allowed to spew such evil as:
We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah Â… I say, let this land [Iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant

Until we kill every single Muslim who continues to preach the ascendancy of Islam over nationality or ethnic group, there will be no hope for an Iraqi democracy. It is the nature of the political Islamic beast to elevate itself above national interests. Unfortunately, the final number of those we would have to eliminate so as to eradicate this notion probably includes the vast majority of Muslims. A democracy of manmade laws is complete and total blasphemy in the eyes of Islam. I see little in the way of ever altering this fundamental aspect of Koranic doctrine. It is why I continue to predict a Muslim holocaust. Islam simply will not have it any other way. They will either conquer the entire world with their doctrine—as it stands—or they will die trying. It is up to us that we make damn sure Islam dies trying.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-10-14 18:02  

#15  Amen, GP!
Posted by: Frank G   2007-10-14 17:08  

#14  Just more proof that the Nobel Peace Prize should have gone to the American Soldier, the greatest force for world peace in the last 100 years.
Posted by: Grumenk Philalzabod0723   2007-10-14 16:59  

#13  I'll really start to worry when the New York Times is on "our" side.

won't happen less you have a lobotomy, Dr. Steve
Posted by: Frank G   2007-10-14 15:57  

#12  I'll really start to worry when the New York Times is on our side.
Posted by: Steve White   2007-10-14 15:24  

#11  Anonymoose - I still have my doubts as to the existence of national identity of "Iraqi" in Iraq. But if one is to be developet, this is probably the only path we have to it today.
Posted by: OldSpook   2007-10-14 15:14  

#10  This worries me, the Wapo has such a great track recod of being wrong on the war that I hesitate to have them on our side. I guess if they are just bandwagoners then thats ok.
Posted by: OldSpook   2007-10-14 15:12  

#9  
Posted by: DMFD   2007-10-14 14:45  

#8  Ahhhhh, but see - it's an editorial!

Bad news will still get reported with sickening regularity, whether it's in Iraq or Walter Reed Hospital.
Posted by: Bobby   2007-10-14 14:17  

#7  The Iraq occupation is going to be seen retroactively as the US and its allies taking on and beating a whole slew of different groups at different times. Al-Qaeda, Baathists, Mehdi army, militias, criminal gangs, smugglers, Iranians, tribalists and miscellaneous others.

If there is one overriding similarity between these disparate groups, it is they are all enemies of the idea of the Iraqi people living in a free and democratic nation.

True victory is in showing all that Iraqi nationalism is superior to any other sectarian agenda. That nationalism is the path to strength, prosperity, modernity and peace. And those that oppose such ends are enemies of the entire nation.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-10-14 13:39  

#6  I think that the Sunni Arabs in Al Anbar finally realized the obvious. They weren't going to win against US Marines.
Posted by: Penguin   2007-10-14 13:11  

#5  The trend could change quickly and tragically, of course.

Of course, they couldn't make it entirely positive..
Posted by: Unique Battle   2007-10-14 11:53  

#4  That is, tribe by tribe, neighborhood by neighborhood Iraqis are standing up and taking ownership and responsibility for their lives

Next: Detroit and East St. Louis
Posted by: KBK   2007-10-14 11:30  

#3  Nevertheless, it's looking more and more as though those in and outside of Congress who last month were assailing Gen. Petraeus's credibility and insisting that there was no letup in Iraq's bloodshed were -- to put it simply -- wrong.

Can you imagine the excruciating pain it must have taken the Washington Post to admit that?
Posted by: badanov   2007-10-14 11:19  

#2  This deeply changes the future for both them and US.
Bless our Soldiers for continuing this pain staking process even through 4th, 5th, and now the coming 6th tour.

If Iraq can hold this, it may be like Turkey, Germany, or Japan. It can work and hold. Our children may not have to fight Armageddon afterall.
Posted by: newc   2007-10-14 10:55  

#1  The surge IS working, and I support it. But above and over that fact, something extraordinary is happening in Iraq. In fact, given that Iraqis are mostly Arab, it's near a miracle. That is, tribe by tribe, neighborhood by neighborhood Iraqis are standing up and taking ownership and responsibility for their lives.

I watch in awe from afar as history is being made.
Posted by: Clineng Fillmore1477   2007-10-14 10:39  

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