Only a few thought the Iraq war would be quick and easy. We all hoped it would turn quicker and smoother into the new Muslim democracy. But Al Qaeda and ethnic friction (as we see in Bosnia and the old Yugoslavia) can make the transition from dictatorship to free nation take longer than it should. But progress is being made:

Iraq today is the central battlefield in the global war between two mutually exclusive visions of the future. Yet the jihadists now know they can’t win on that battlefield. After three years of near-daily killings, often in the most horrible manner imaginable, they’ve failed to alter Iraq’s political agenda. Nor have they won control of any territory or even broadened their constituency.

The jihadists have suffered thousands of casualties, with many more captured by Coalition forces and the new Iraqi army and police. Despite more than 120 suicide operations, and countless attacks on civilian targets, the jihadists have been on the defensive since they lost their chief base at Fallujah last year. Their strategic weakness: They can’t translate their killings into political gains inside Iraq.

They kill teachers and children, but schools stay open. They kill doctors and patients, but hospitals still function. They kill civil servants, but the ministries are crawling back into operation. They kidnap and murder foreign businessmen, but more keep coming. They massacre volunteers for the new army and police, but the lines of those wishing to join grow longer.

They blow up pipelines and kill oil workers, but oil still flows. They kill judges and lawyers, but Iraq’s new courts keep on working. They machine-gun buses carrying foreign pilgrims, but the pilgrims come back in growing numbers. They kill newspaper boys, but newspapers still get delivered every day.

This a must read and share article. It tells a stunning story of then coming end of the insurgency and new unity in the Muslim world. In the face of this historic battle, in response to the day-to-day bravery that deserves to be told for generations as an epic struggle for good, as a people fight to be free, Democrats want to run from the field and cower in the US. The end of this great nation will come when people hide behind their Latte’s and say life is good, but won’t lift a finger to help a person dying from evil oppression. Stay the course? Absolutely. The goal must remain, no matter how many times we need to adjust our path to get there.