Of course, al-Yahoo sounds the call of defeat with this AP story, which headlines the search engine's news. "Official: Iraq Government Missed All Targets". According to the "official" - anonymous, of course - "the facts are not in question." Its lost, folks. Surrender and come home to the Xbox.Its funny because the troops on the ground and embedded reporter Michael Yon have a different take.
On D +1 and for those first few days of Operation Arrowhead Ripper, the Iraqi leaders seemed mostly inert.
But now on D+16, only about two weeks later, they are out politicking, showing their faces in public, letting the people know they are in charge. And, unlike the tired cliché of a politician in a parade, they truly have been working behind the scenes. I know because I sit in on the meetings, and listen to the progress reports as items on the lists get checked off. I hear the whining as each section of Baqubah seems to think they are the forgotten ones. “Why the Sunni getting help first?” they ask. But then in another neighborhood, “Why the Shia getting help first?” But I watch the sausage-making. LTC Johnson will say, “Mike, c’mon. It’s time to make sausage and you need to see this.” It’s messy and frustrating. But food shipments have resumed to Baqubah after 10 months of nothing. Not that Diyala Province is starving: Diyala is, after all, Iraq’s breadbasket.
Says al-AP: "The 'piv
ot point' for addressing the matter will no longer be Sept. 15, as initially envisioned, when a full report on Bush's so-called 'surge' plan is due, but instead will come this week when the interim mid-July assessment is released, the official said."So, screw the September 15th reports. Screw any other reports, screw patience, screw it. In other words, the hell with what is being reported from the ground. The Power Whores and their puppets in al-AP want to lose the war now.
Look at the faces in these pictures. Visit Yon's website and see for yourself. Yet opportunistic politicians have no problem stoking the fire of lazy, perspectiveless reporting of the Useful Idiots in this country.
Who is this "anonymous" official talking about it "all being over"?
Folks, if we give up on this fight, get ready for a miserable post-Iraq world. Brace yourselves. It doesn't have to end this way. The American People can send a message to the Power Whores who want the politically expedient path - say NO to giving up. Our future as a nation is in the balance. The future of all of those who wish to live in a world free of terror is in the balance.
See this from IBD:
"On Election Night 2008, Domenici, Warner and the other Republican senators who put their political fortunes before America's interests may indeed find themselves sipping champagne. But when the new Iraq is divided between al-Qaida and Iran as a consequence of their opportunism and becomes a base for exporting global terror, there will be little for their constituents — the ultimate targets of that terror — to celebrate."
This from National Review's Editors and from Rich Lowry make the important case as well.
Especially, this paragraph from NRO's Editors:
Critics of the surge point to increased U.S. casualties and the failure of the central government to meet political “benchmarks” by passing important legislation. The increased casualties are the awful but inevitable result of our increased combat operations, and in no way a sign that the surge isn’t working. The lack of political progress in Baghdad is disappointing, but has to be kept in perspective. The reason we wanted key pieces of legislation to pass was that we thought they would promote reconciliation with the Sunnis and split some of them from the insurgency. That has happened anyway, without the meeting of “benchmarks.”
But opponents of the war are now willing to retreat from Iraq, no matter what the consequences. Sunday’s New York Times editorial calling for a withdrawal had this extraordinarily candid passage: “Americans must be clear that Iraq, and the region around it, could be even bloodier and more chaotic after Americans leave. There could be reprisals against those who worked with American forces, further ethnic cleansing, even genocide. Potentially destabilizing refugee flows could hit Jordan and Syria. Iran and Turkey could be tempted to make power grabs. Perhaps most important, the invasion has created a new stronghold from which terrorist activity could proliferate.”
No, no. The important thing to consider are Republican Poll numbers. Consequences be damned.
**** 7/10 - I'm going to keep my powder dry on this until I hear the "report" and see how the Administration and the Power Whores respond to it. God help us if we ever have to fight a full-scale war again. God Help us.
