CategoriesIraq - Bush Visit - What if it Works?
President Bush paid a surprise visit to Iraq’s al-Anbar province, where he allowed some discussion of troop reductions:
“What I said today was that if Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker have said if the security situation continues to improve as it has we may be able to achieve the same objectives with fewer troops. The first moment that there will be any discussions about troop levels will be after Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker come back to Washington.”
Chicago Tribune
Readers not focused on defeat will remember al-Anbar province as the one that was “lost” and probably “never under control” a few short months ago. Success there now gives a glimmer of hope, even though hard problems still exist. Still, the Democrats are heavily invested in failure in Iraq:
Democrats Said To Hope For “Bleak” Reports
U.S. News and World Report notes this week reports on the situation in Iraq from the Government Accountability Office and an independent commission of military experts will provide the context for congressional hearings on Iraq. According to US News, Democrats “are hoping this flood of new appraisals will be so bleak that congressional Republicans will be forced to change course.”
From US News and World Report’s Political Bulletin.
But as Jon Stewart once famously said, “What if it works?”
Update One:
Other bloggers on this story:
Belmont Club and Dean Barnett at HughHewitt.com.
Update Two:
Sister Toldjah, one of my personal favorites, marvels that some of the “experts” are confused as to why combat deaths are down. Flopping Aces has a great write up with marvelous pictures I haven’t seen in one place before.
Gateway Pundit also links to some of the negative comments from the left, and in a related blog, Comments from Left Field notes a “Ray of Hope” and analyzes some of the combat death numbers that are being questioned by some. Its near the end of the story.
Update Three:
Don’t miss a condensed version of the reaction from the left at All Things Conservative ... a selection of comments you can daintily nibble on without having to swallow the entire haggis that’s being served.
Thanks for the link Frank!
Anbar’s a success? We spent hundreds of lives and billions of dollars to simply turn it back over to the tribal leaders/warlords that largely controlled it before the war. The attempt to make the Sunnis cow to some fantasized, nonsectarian central government has failed and we are withdrawing.
Now this may be the right thing to do at present. But don’t call it success. We could’ve reached this outcome without ever setting a foot in Anbar.
Michael, you’re welcome … your blog is an interesting read.
Macswain, “success” might be too strong a word if we are looking for utopia, but in measuring it against the situation just a year ago, improvement, at least, is certainly welcome. I will agree that we pursued failed policies far too long … over three years … allowing the situation there to deteriorate. And when the immediate threat of the foreign terorrists is over, they may return to their old sectarian disputes. But its worth noting that progress has been made with a new strategy, and the province that “is lost” is, like the proverbial gospel singer, “now found.” (Or, whatever the corrollary is in Islam!)