*** Update: Captain Ed points to captured Al Qaeda documents which show even they admit we are succeeding in Iraq – leaving only the far left and blinded pols like Murtha and Dean as the only ones who haven’t bought a clue yet.

At the same time, the Americans and the Government were able to absorb our painful blows, sustain them, compensate their losses with new replacements, and follow strategic plans which allowed them in the past few years to take control of Baghdad as well as other areas one after the other. That is why every year is worse than the previous year as far as the Mujahidin’s control and influence over Baghdad.

Read the whole thing.  But note the reality is year after year the insurgency was losing, at the same time Dems tried and tried to cut and run.  Democrats keep destroying their credibility on National Security throug their persistent attempts to surrender in an effort we are succeeding in.  ***

A perfect success? No such thing. A great success? Yes. If you look at what the Joe Wilsons and his ilk were saying prior to the war and during the first year their predictions of doom and gloom were stunning. Here are Joe Wilson’s predictions, as I reviewed an audio archive of his comments at the Epic conference, concerning our chances in succeeding in Iraq from June 2003 – views which were shared by a strong majority of the left. These are my descriptions from last year of what he said in 2003:

(1) 120 degrees in Baghdad

(2) Southern Iraq will be under Shia control

(3) Shia clergy will underpin the power in this community, and they will be the most zealous

(4) Therefore the rights of women will be abridged

(5) The Shia will be aligned and partnered with the Iranians and armed by them

(6) The Sunni will have regrouped and be re-employing Baathist tactics and personal and running the insurgency.

(7) He predicts 20 dead US soldiers a day

(8) Kurdish independence efforts will fray US and Turkish relationships. Joe envisions the Kurds “squabbling amongst themselves as they always do”. The Kurds will be seen as difficult partners and in 2004 we will be stepping away from the Kurds. ‘Kurdish huggers’ will call this the 3rd great betrayal of the Kurds and there is no doubt it will happen.

(9) All three groups will want only one thing – the US out. Again, Seer Joe is only consistent in how badly he predicted how things would go. Their selfishness will push them to drive us out of their way,

(10) The pressure in the US will begin to build because Ariel Sharon will have so mistreated the Palestinians by this time that Palestinians will be going to Jordan en masse or all out daily bloodshed with Israeli gunships firing away.

(11) This will be what faces Bush as he goes into the 2004 elections.

(12) Bush will find it impossible to run as Commander-in-Chief, the economy will be very weak, unemployment up near 7%, $500-600 billion dollar deficits and people will be unhappy.

(13) So what will Bush do? Start another war.

(14) Further, Bush will have to cut and run from Iraq and Israel. We will declare Sharon is waging a war on terrorism – as if they are not!

(15) Wilson predicts some ’secret plan’ will arise that allows us to cut and run from Iraq and let the Iraqis sink into civil war.

You can go back to 2002 and 2003 and find all sorts of similar Chicken Little screeds. But the truth is very different. Today Iraq’s new PM announced the final details for forming Iraq’s permanent democratically elected government have been worked out:

Iraq’s prime minister-designate said Tuesday the main stumbling blocks to forming a new Cabinet have been overcome and he expects to present his team to parliament for approval by the end of the week.

Nouri al-Maliki said representatives of the country’s political parties had agreed on who will head the main posts and that just a few ministries remain unfilled. Discussions were still under way on the nominees for the oil, trade and transportation ministries, he said.

The problem with the left and all their Joe Wilson’s is they never could see a way to solve the problem in Iraq. They couldn’t see a winning strategy so therefore there could not be one! Just because they did not have the gray matter to see a path to a better future does not mean it did not exist. Just like Joe Wilson probably cannot know how to do heart surgery, the fact he doesn’t know how to do it doesn’t equate to the reality it cannot be done. Egotists are often like this. There mantra “I can’t see how this is possible” is meant to convey to that the target of their scorn is dreaming. When in reality the one dreaming is the one who is (a) incapable of performing the act yet (b) is attempting to pass judegment on those who are capable.

Note this about the left. They constantly convince themselves (and their poodle dog news media) that since they cannot see a solution the ones who do must be wrong. Joe Wilson sounded so darn confident and wise when he predicted the fantasy future he spewed. The quiet ones formed their own future. The one we have today with a new Iraq ally.