Feb 14 2008
Iraq Progress Update
I noted yesterday that Iraq had made huge legislative progress on their road to a stable victory over al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. But I missed one interesting point that came out in a new story today – October elections. This was found in a grudging editorial from the NY Times on the successes in Iraq:
Good news is rare in Iraq. But after months of bitter feuding, Iraq’s Parliament has finally approved a budget, outlined the scope of provincial powers, set an Oct. 1 date for provincial elections and voted a general amnesty for detainees.
Interesting timing these Iraqi elections, one month after the Democrats SurrenderConvention and one month prior to our elections. The impact of another round of purpled fingered Iraqi voters will not be lost on an America public who was promised that the Surge in Iraq was a failure and the only option was retreat to Japan. Watch out Dems – your Achilles’ Heel is showing. Captain Ed Morrissey has more thoughts on this important news.
dem’s will refuse to notice this, and I doubt many (any?) will even comment on it – just watch the comments here.
With ObamaMania sweeping that party, I believe that they have completed their transformation from political party to religious Cult. Consequently, we can’t expect any rational argument (or even rational thought) out of them, no more than we could expect that from any other dedicated cultist. Is there progress in Iraq? The cult leader says no, so their isn’t. No thought or facts required.
Barak Obama and Tom Cruise have a lot in common.
WWS
It’s also the reason so many of us count on these blogs, their links, and commentors links to gather our information. The media sold us out long ago and we all know who they bow to.
Yeah, these blogs are the only place where you can get the straight scoop because the MSM sold us out long ago. Thank god AJ was able to go around the MSM and find this opinion in the NY Times. Everybody knows that the NY Times is not part of the MSM and is one of the few sources of reliable news. Yeah right!
It is also really helpful that AJ selectively quotes from these articles, so we don’t have to figure out for ourselves what is true/important and what is false/unimportant. Such as this piece from the NY Times article yesterday about the election portion of the legislation that AJ conveniently left out in his blog yesterday and today on this issue:
“The most serious controversy on Wednesday was over the inclusion of a date for holding provincial elections, which President Bush has pushed for in the short term. Such elections would mean that two political parties, one Shiite and one Sunni, would stand to lose control of one or more provincial councils, so those groups have tried to defer the vote. But the majority of Parliament supported setting a date, and Mr. Mashhadani, the speaker, forced the inclusion of a deadline, Oct. 1, at the last minute. The top American officials in Iraq, Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker and Gen. David H. Petraeus, issued a statement after the passage, congratulating Parliament and describing the provincial powers law, in particular, as a “landmark law†in which “Iraqi legislators have reached an historic compromise.†But they sought to cover themselves in the event that poison pills were buried in the details of the legislation. That was the case in January, with the passage of a law that was promoted as a way to bring more Sunni Arabs into government jobs but that later appeared to have provisions that would actually force out at least as many as it brought in. “There is also still more to learn about how this legislation will be implemented,†said the statement on Wednesday by Mr. Crocker and General Petraeus. One example is growing concern over the commission that has been set up to organize provincial elections. There are allegations that the political parties have divided up the seats on the commission by party, but that not all parties ended up with a place at the table, raising questions about whether a vote will be viewed as fair or will merely deepen divisions. And, still left out of the political bargain are the newly formed Awakening Councils, which are predominantly Sunni and in many cases represent powerful tribes. They have taken the lead in fighting extremist Sunni groups, and now their leaders are clamoring for a place at the table. They are outraged that the Iraqi Islamic Party, which is Sunni but has limited grass-roots support, dominates the provincial council in Anbar Province. “In Anbar Province we want the provincial council disbanded and another one formed, we want elections to be held in March or April and we want the Iraqi Islamic Party to leave the province in 30 days,†said Sheik Ali Hatem, one of the leaders of the Anbar Awakening, who survived a suicide bomb attack this week.”
I know, minor details. You are correct that if the elections are actually held on October 1st it will be a big boost for the GOP in the 2008 elections (although keep in mind that this would be the third purple finger moment and Americans won’t forget how the other two turned out). If they are not held as planned, however, then it will be used as an example of another GOP claimed victory that turned out to be hollow. That will hurt the GOP no doubt.
I’m really curious as to when you bloggers (both on the left and right side) are going to stop predicting the effect of Iraq on the 2008 elections so far in advance. The status of Iraq 12 months ago, 6 months ago and right now are not relevant. The only thing that will matter is the status in the Fall of 2008. Claiming today that you know what that status will be, given all of the complexities involved in Iraq, only shows that you are naive.
Don’t worry conman…….the folks will never see the purple fingers. It is called the Silence. The MSM has 2 weapons, front pages and the Silence. If they can run 50 front page stories over Abu Ghraib, thousands over what we did wrong in Iraq, they can certainly be Silent on anything that even looks like progress.
BTW, where is all that gleeful (cheering ) printing over roadside bombs?
Conman,
Your naive if you think I”m reading that long-a$$ post.