Feb 13 2008
Massive Political Progress In Iraq Proves Democrats Dead Wrong On Surge Success
The liberal Surrendercrats in Congress have kept trying to move the goal posts to make the lame and idiotic case that the Surge and Awakening in Iraq has been a failure. Their last vestige for trying to pull defeat out of success was the claim political reconciliation had not (yet) occurred and that was the latest excuse to ignore our success in Iraq. Well now that last excuse has been thrown by the wayside as Iraq has passed the remaining big legislation that was deemed critical to reconciliation and success:
Using old-fashioned behind-the-scenes politicking, Iraq’s Parliamentary leaders pushed through three divisive laws that had been delayed for months by bitter maneuvering between factions and, recently, threats to dissolve the legislative body.
More than any legislation approved so far, the three measures have the potential to spur reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites and set the country on the road to a more representative government.
The three laws are the 2008 budget, a law outlining the scope of provincial powers — a crucial aspect of Iraq’s self-definition as a federal state — and an amnesty that will cover thousands of the detainees held in Iraqi jails, including thousands of Sunnis, many of whom have been held without charges for months and, in a few cases, more than a year. It will be the largest release at one time since 2003.
The freeing of detainees who have not been charged has been a headline issue for Sunni legislators in Parliament and for the Sunni vice-president, Tariq al-Hashimi, who have charged that the Shiite-dominated security forces have charged many innocent Sunnis with being members of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, an extremist Sunni group that American intelligence says is foreign-led.
The three measures were put to a vote as a single package and passed Wednesday afternoon. There were 206 legislators of the 275-member body at the session, according to the Parliament’s press office. “Today we have a wedding party for the Iraqi parliament,†said Mahmoud Mashadani, the speaker, who is a Sunni. “We have proved that Iraqis are one bloc and parliament is able to find solutions that represent all Iraqis.â€
It is poetic justice that the liberal NY Times is reporting this final symbol of success in Iraq. Moreover, the failed democrat US Congress has no room to criticize a legislative body that has been much more productive, and in time of war, than the bums on Capitol Hill. Iraq is securing its people’s future, why is our Congress so damn lame in securing ours?
AJ,
You left a portion of the article out of your quote that seems slightly important. Here it is:
“However, embedded in each of the measures are the same problems that created the controversy in the first place. For instance, on the budget, the size of the Kurdish share has merely been deferred for a year. The 17 percent agreement is only for this year; next year it will be re-negotiated and there is a strong push to reduce their share.
On the provincial powers law, which includes a requirement that elections be held next fall, there are serious problems with the election commission both at the national and provincial level, raising questions about whether a vote will be viewed as fair or merely deepen divisions among and within sects. Worries about that could end up delaying the elections.
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 clambering 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.
“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 Sheikh Ali Hatem, one of the leaders of the Anbar Awakening, who survived a suicide bomb attack earlier this week.
There appeared to be little chance of elections before the fall.”
I’m sure it was inadvertant.
LOL! No Conman – there is no way that delay will cause Iraq to collapse. keep dreaming dude – your failure is coming, just not where you expect it.
This is great! No, it isn’t perfect (as the article points out); but, it is democracy in the making. It is putting the power of the people in representatives in Parliament. There will be more legislation and a lot of political fights down the road. I just hope it doesn’t get as bad as what we see in halls of the US Congress. LOL!
Although this is a major step towards reconciliaiton……the real progress has been going on every single day since the surge started (from the bottom up). The central government will eventually catch up.
Who would have ever thought, a few years ago, that our greatest ally in fighting al Qaeda would be a free, democratic, Muslim nation in the heart of the Jihadist’s caliphate?
That, my friends, is the real progress.
Ed Morrissey had the best summary of the brain-dead left’s knee-jerk response to the latest good news; all of it can be rendered in song!
Leftoid talking points to try and ignore the accomplishments:
1. It’s too late, baby, it’s too late — it just doesn’t count unless it happened in 2005.
2. It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that (immediate) swing — Despite their calls for the Iraqi parliament to pass exactly this legislation, they will claim that the legislation is meaningless without implementation, but they won’t wait for the implementation.
3. We’re dreaming the impossible dream — Iraqis (and Arabs in general) won’t cotton to democracy, and all of this just is prelude to the genocidal war brewing between the Shi’ites and the Sunnis.
Conman and his terrorist loving fellow travelers aren’t just dreaming; they spend every hour of every day hoping and cheering for America to lose, because that is the only thing that can salvage their hopelessly corrupt and poisonous world view.
I think that “Hail to the Chief” is in order. And of course to all those who wear the uniform.
AJ,
I’m not dreaming for a collapse or failure in Iraq. I want us to succeed in Iraq and I’m happy that they are making some political progress in Iraq. Not every American who has a different viewpoint about Iraq than you wants to fail or is unamerican, just like what you say about Rush, Hannity, etc.
I just think it is premature to declare victory in Iraq at every positive sign and I think it misleading to selectively quote from your sources. So I called you out on it. One thing you would hope we have all learned during the last 4-5 years is that we need to be really careful how quickly we declare victory or defeat.
“Hail to the Chief” would be perfect right now but so many will never be able to give credit to President Bush. Their BDS is still on full display.
Here we have this amazing progress in Iraq just a few years after being ruled by a murderous madman. And one of our own congress members puts an anonymous hold on a bill to protect Marine Recruiters in Berkeley, while members of the marines die in Iraq to promote freedom abroad to protect us here at home.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could withhold funding from those pressing for defeat in the war on terror the way they have threatened to withhold funding from our troops?
The Iraqi government is in the process of uniting a divided and violent country while the Democrats are attempting to divide our country. One is truly inspiring and the other is truly despicable.
Conman:
No, you do not want success. You want it to fail so that you can blame Bush and Republicans and help your party win the next election. The fact that a lot of innocent people will have to suffer and die for you to get your way is just icing on the cake.
For all the demands of the left, for all their high falutin rhetoric, their Iraq policy is simple: run away and let the place go to hell in a handbasket.
At least here we see people trying to do the right thing. There may be corruption and tribalism and brutality and all of that…but in spite of it people are trying to do something right. That is more than I can say for your side of the debate.
I would also imagine the Iraqi Congress probably has higher approval rating that ours—they certainly should as they have clearly been more effective at dealing with real problems that would have left our simpletons crapping on each other. For our Congresscritters to criticize is amusing…….imagine, if you could, them doing even less (which isn’t a bad idea) worried about legitimate threats of violence to themselves or their families. No our good ol’ boys and girls in Washington have time to hold steroid hearings……do that on their own dime.
“I would also imagine the Iraqi Congress probably has higher approval rating that ours”
The guys who pick up dead armadilloes off the road have a higher approval rating than our Congress!!
“One thing you would hope we have all learned during the last 4-5 years is that we need to be really careful how quickly we declare victory or defeat. ”
Evidently, your dem leaders didn’t get the memo. They sure have been persistent & consistent in claiming defeat, from Reid, Durbin, Pelosi, et. al. before the surge even began every week up to Pelosi’s statement of defeat the other day.
(Similar to the global warming alarmists who keep at it despite lack of supporting facts & evidence, although they are having more success swaying a gullible press.)
This looks like very good news. Did they mention anything about whether or not the military surge helped produce these results? That would be real undeniable proof that the surge had worked.