Ed Morrisey at Captain's Quarters has posted an encouraging report (as outlined by the NYT's) on the events in Ramadi and the Anbar Province:
Good News In Anbar
Just as the Democrats have raised the white flag on Iraq, the New York Times reports that the surge strategy has started paying off in Anbar. Shops have reopened, people have moved back, and everyone's challenging the insurgents except Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi (via Memeorandum):
Anbar Province, long the lawless heartland of the tenacious Sunni Arab resistance, is undergoing a surprising transformation. Violence is ebbing in many areas, shops and schools are reopening, police forces are growing and the insurgency appears to be in retreat.
"Many people are challenging the insurgents," said the governor of Anbar, Maamoon S. Rahid, though he quickly added, "We know we haven’t eliminated the threat 100 percent."
Many Sunni tribal leaders, once openly hostile to the American presence, have formed a united front with American and Iraqi government forces against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. With the tribal leaders’ encouragement, thousands of local residents have joined the police force. About 10,000 police officers are now in Anbar, up from several thousand a year ago. During the same period, the police force here in Ramadi, the provincial capital, has grown from fewer than 200 to about 4,500, American military officials say.
At the same time, American and Iraqi forces have been conducting sweeps of insurgent strongholds, particularly in and around Ramadi, leaving behind a network of police stations and military garrisons, a strategy that is also being used in Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, as part of its new security plan. (link to NYT's complete story)
In the comment section under Ed's post the battle lines are drawn up early between the defeatist on the left and many on the right that have not given up on the people of Iraq or the quest for solvency in the region. A regular that calls him/herself conservative democrat sets the pace of the conversation:
"Since the day the Democrats voted to end our quagmire in Iraq all these positive stories suddenly appear. If I see a few months of positive stories I will change my opinion of this long fiasco. Plus I will need to see Maliki share the oil revenues, reverse the de-baathification policies and amend the constitution, all steps to get the Sunnis to join the political process. One thing I will never forget is how the rightwingers(not you Captain,you've always been fair) questioned my patriotism. I will never forget that Joseph McCarthy tactic."
Posted by: conservative democrat
"CD, I was actually pleasantly surprised to see your comments here. When progress is reported, most dissenters here go into hiding or we get alot of, "yea, buts".
So as long as we're winning, we have your support. Thanks. Everyone loves a winner. It's when things get tough that we need your help though. Are you prepared to stand for your Country when things get tough again, as they will and do in war?
I've believed in the mission almost from day one. The Mission being a 180 deg. detour of all prior Administrations' support of ME tyrants as long as they were our tyrants. This is not a 5-10 year battle. This will take a generation or two.
Our troops need the backing of Winter Patriots. So your affronted that people here question your patriotism. You've revealed to all here the kind of patriot you are, a sunshine patriot. Well, we've got too many of those.
Posted by: SoldiersMom
Conservative democrat -- Suddenly you are impressed by the 'unexpected' good news coming out of Iraq.
You had every opportunity to hear about this first hand from the men (and women) involved in making it happen for the last five years, just as we had. This war has been unprecedented in the direct access of the American people to the troops and workers in the field via the internet.
Yet from your posts, you seem to have been perfectly content to swallow your filtered news from the media and the Democratic party. Did you ever make the slightest effort to see for yourself if what they told you was correct or honest?
If you don't want your patriotism questioned, you shouldn't parrot the talking points of people who don't have any.
Posted by: richard mcenroe
"I don't know which is better news: that things are looking up a bit in Anbar, or that the NYT is actually reporting it. If the security situation continues to improve, I predict that Grand Admiral Reid and Commissar Pelosi will take credit. You know: "Thanks to our tough policy, we've managed to pull Iraq from the quagmire. Time to start planning for V-I Day!"
SoldiersMom nails it about "sunshine patriots". Think about it: if Grand Admiral Reid, Commissar Pelosi, Field Marshall al-Murtha and the rest of the Benedict Arnolds had their way, we would never have heard about this because the surge never would have taken place because we'd have left long before now. al-Iraqi, instead of languishing in a cell in Gitmo (where his civil rights are no doubt being violated... and where the ACLU is tirelessly working to get him freed), would be planning more bombings like those he apparently masterminded in London. Zarqawi might still even be alive, planning attacks against US interests abroad or perhaps recruiting another group of loonies to stage attacks against us here at home. I can't know for certain, of course, but I expect that spending so much time running for his life might have upset his ability to plan grand attacks against us just a little bit.
If we win in Iraq, it will be due solely to the courage and skill of the men and women of our armed forces (God bless 'em!), the courage and determination of the Iraqi people... and the perseverance of George Bush.
conservative quisling wrote (April 29, 2007 04:49 PM):
Plus I will need to see Maliki share the oil revenues, reverse the de-baathification policies and amend the constitution, all steps to get the Sunnis to join the political process.
Wow. Didn't the Cap'n post about moving the goal posts just the other day? What will the quislings set as the next goal posts? That Iraqis give up smoking, stop eating trans fats, drive hybrid cars, sign Kyoto, and recognize homosexual marriage?
"There were six traffic accidents in Baghdad last week! QUAGMIRE! FAILURE! BUSH'S FAULT!!!!"
One thing I will never forget is how the rightwingers(not you Captain,you've always been fair) questioned my patriotism. I will never forget that Joseph McCarthy tactic.
Yeah, I'm sure that Benedict Arnold, Jefferson Davis, Julius Rosenberg, Alger Hiss and Jane Fonda didn't like people saying bad things about them, either. I mean, just because a person sells out our country is no excuse to call them names, is it?
/sarcasm
Come to think of it, I'm sure all us "chickenhawks" and "reichwingers" have had our fill of lefty McCarthyist namecalling. And I'd hate to think how Bush and Cheney deal with the steady stream of vicious hatred that comes their way every single day.
Posted by: docjim505
JR565 gets a little less polite on CD's comment:
With all due respect to CD, awww, people questioned your patriotism which you likened to Mccarthyism. Meanwhile whole movements have embraced the truth that somehow GW Bush had a hand in blowing up planes to start a war, that he and Cheney were in league with Osama, that he deliberately was negligent in the big easy because he hates black people, some went even further saying that someone (most likely tied to the administration) actually blew up the levees in N.O. because of, I guess, racial animus. Your side has caused conservatives chicken hawks, war mongers, nazis, neo cons as if it were a sneer. And you're mad because some people question your patriotism. I suppose you also say that it was Bush and not those who would say he went to war because of his daddy, because of a nonexistent pipeline in afghanistan,that he's a boy king, that he's trying to bring about theocracy, that he's Hitler reincarnated. Should I go on, or do you get the picture. The amount of demagoguery and falsehood and smear, and slander, and lack of patriotism from your side of the aisle is enough to make professional demagogues, and slanderers and rapscallions to blush and feel inadequate. Go cry me a river you hypocrite.
Posted by: jr565
(Read all the comment here)
No comments:
Post a Comment