Remaining arguments against the proposition that the surge and the counterinsurgency strategy implemented in Iraq have been successful revolve around the contention that there has been no political reconciliation in the country.
Such claims are harder to make these days:
Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc returned to the government fold Saturday after calling off a nearly one-year boycott of the Shiite-dominated leadership--another critical stride toward healing sectarian rifts.
The return of the National Accordance Front does more than politically reunite some of Iraq's main centers of power.
It was seen as a significant advance toward reconciliation and efforts to cement security cooperation between Shiite-led forces and armed Sunni groups that rose up against al-Qaida in Iraq.
The United States has pressured Iraq's government to work toward settling the sectarian feuds, which brought daily bloodshed until recent months. The hope is that more parties staked in the future of Iraq could mean a quicker exit for U.S. and other foreign forces.
If such a quick exit is possible, it will be because the surge and the counterinsurgency effort made it possible to secure a more peaceful existence in Iraq and set the stage for acts political reconciliation the likes of which have been reported in this story. And yes, it occurs to me that we ought to reward the Presidential candidate whose confidence in the surge and the counterinsurgency plan has been proven to have been entirely justified.
15 of 18 Benchmarks
Tom Skypek July 19th, 2008 at 5:52 p.m. (link)
Yeah, I mean 15 of the 18 political-military benchmarks have been achieved at a satisfactory level. That is a marked improvement from September 2007, the first time Gen. Petraeus testified before Congress after the troop surge. The numbers don't lie. Some folks, especially in Congress, want the U.S. to lose in Iraq. That is disturbing. I think this election might be a 1972 redux where Obama is the new McGovern.
Hope is Not A Foreign Policy
Yup.
29Victor July 19th, 2008 at 6:23 p.m. (link)
And I keep hearing the liberal commentaters & pols ratteling off the party line... "yes, the surge has resulted in less violence but that wasn't the point, the point of the surge was political progress and that hasn't happened."
But they have to know that it has and is continuing to happen. I guess they are hoping that if they tell the lie long enough it will become the truth.