Over and over again we see from people who have visited Iraq recently the sea change there. Today Victor Davis Hanson adds his voice to the chorus of optimism about Iraq.

Whether in various suburbs of Baghdad, or in Baqubah, Ramadi or Taji, there is a familiar narrative of vastly reduced violence.

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Officers offered a number of theories. The surge of American troops, and Gen. David Petraeus’ risky tactics of going after the terrorists within their enclaves, have put al-Qaida on the run. Likewise, in the past four years, the U.S. military has killed thousands of these terrorists and depleted their ranks.

Sunnis — angry over their loss of power to the historically discriminated-against Shiites — discovered their al-Qaida allies to be worse than their Shiite rivals. We forget that jihadists drew in not merely religious fanatics but also repulsive common criminals and psychopaths who extort, butcher and mutilate innocents.

Iraqis of all tribes and sects are also growing tired of the nihilistic violence that is squandering the opportunity for something better than Saddam’s rule. The astronomical spike in oil prices has resulted in windfall profits of billions of dollars for the Iraqi government — and with it the realization that Iraq could someday become a wealthy advanced state.

Iraqis told me that their widely held fear that Americans are going to leave soon has galvanized Sunnis to finally step up to secure their country or face even worse chaos in our absence.

The Democrats missed their chance to ensure defeat in Iraq and hand al Qaeda a huge PR victory. They cannot claim any responsibility for the turn around they fought so hard to avoid. And in fact they rightfully wear the mantel of the ones who tried to run away when we are on the cusp of turning things around. They are the ones who whimped out just before the final pieces fell into place. The Surrendercrats cowered in the face of al Qaeda violence while, at the same time, Iraqis stood up to it and purged it from their commuities.

The vector for Iraq is just now picking up speed on its new path. Direction of momentum has been changed – for lots of reasons. Iraq has not even hit its cruising speed yet, it is still accelerating in the new direction to its new future. By spring Iraq won’t even be recongnizable. I cannot think of one many plausible scenarios that could change the direction of momentum again. The tipping point is well behind us now. There are going to be a lot of foolish people in hindsight here soon.

OK, now to some breaking stories on Iraq worth reading. Stories the US SurrenderMedia will not run because of their deep denial of how wrong they have been on Iraq. First, the results of a large effort to sweep more of the Diyala Province clean of al Qaeda.

U.S. troops targeting al-Qaida in Iraq have killed at least 52 suspected insurgents and detained 47 over the past week, the military said Wednesday.

Operations targeting al-Qaida safe havens in the Diyala River Valley northeast of the capital, which started last Thursday and ended Sunday, resulted in 37 militants killed and 25 detained, the military said.

The operations included numerous contacts with insurgents. Several weapons caches were also uncovered and destroyed, including ammunition, sniper-rifle parts, grenades, mines, blasting caps, mortar systems, anti-tank weapons, rocket propelled grenade launchers and improvised explosive device-making materials.

During the multiple-day operations in Diyala, air strikes destroyed five al-Qaida in Iraq safe houses, including a building used for al-Qaida’s surveillance of U.S. troop positions.

Good stuff. al-Qaeda’s base of operations is shrinking with every passing weak. Soon they will be vanquished in terms of large fighting forces. And more and more Iraqi communities are joining the fight against al Qaeda and for a democratic Iraq:

Approximately 70 tribal leaders, representing 25 tribes from areas throughout the northern Diyala River Valley, met at an Iraqi Army base in Muqdadiya, Iraq, to discuss the way ahead and the need to unite in the fight against terrorism, Oct. 8.

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fter discussing tribal differences and why it is important to unite, the leaders signed a reconciliation agreement and swore over the Quran as a promise to uphold the agreement.

Some conditions of the peace treaty include ending tribal conflicts and attacks; cooperating with the ISF to fight al-Qaeda, militia groups and other terrorist organizations; working with the security forces to remove corrupt members; returning displaced families to their homes; reporting and removing improvised explosive devices; and respecting all sects, religions and women’s rights.

And the Democrats wanted to stop funding this effort? Maybe they should do an apology tour, explaining to all those Iraqis who now see hope and peace as their future why the Surrendercrats lost faith in them and our military and were willing to walk away from these amazing events. Recall, under democratic plans, most of our forces would be in Okinawa, Japan and not hosting these amazing meetings in Iraq. Amazing shortsightedness on the part of the Dems.