Vice President Biden didn't use the jinxed phrase "mission accomplished." But he offered an optimistic assessment of Iraq after last month's parliamentary election, saying that Iran's covert bid for influence there had been "clobbered" and that Baghdad appears headed toward an inclusive coalition government. "Politics has finally broken out in Iraq," Biden said in an interview Thursday. "Everyone is in on the deal, and it's real." Biden began by discussing the three bloody attacks that have taken place this month. He said that at least two were the work of remnants of al-Qaeda in Iraq, but that this group's "capacity is significantly diminished" and that it is failing in its goal "to set the sectarian spark again" and disrupt the formation of a government.
Bush's talking points from two years ago. Will wonders never cease?
"It was a real stick in the eye of the Iranians," Biden said of Tehran's unsuccessful campaign to steer the election outcome. What's more, he said, Tehran's post-election effort to pressure Iraqi leaders who visited Tehran "has turned out to backfire." Iraqi politicians had discovered "there's a real price to be paid . . . if it looks like you are seeking the approval or following the direction of the Iranians or any neighbor."
The trickiest question for an Obama administration that campaigned on a program of withdrawal from Iraq is how to stay active there, even as American troops come home by the end of next year. Biden said that question comes up in nearly every conversation he has with Iraqis - "Now you guys are sticking, right?"
"We plan on staying engaged," Biden said he told Maliki last week - especially in the non-military areas that the United States hopes will part of a stable, long-term relationship.
Just so they can avoid that icky troop thing.
The paradox of Iraq is that to get out successfully, the United States must show that it's still involved for now. The vice president's comments send the right signal.
Where were you on the Surge, Mr. Ignatius? Didn't it send the right signal?