Contrary to the hand-wringing an impatience on the left, hard won progress is being made and once intractable problems are being worked, if one reads outside the blabber of the SurrenderMedia. For example, the problem of bringing security to the lawless regions of Pakistan are being discussed as Pakistan and the regional tribal leaders try and work out how to bring the region into the modern day and junk the disastrous governing system put in place in the late 1800’s, which has been a major factor in why that region of the world is so troublesome today:

Asfandyar Wali Khan, who leads the Awami National Party, the Pushtun-nationalist party that heads the coalition, says he is in contact with “some Taliban”. He is confident of winning over local militants, starting in the district of Swat where two pro-government tribal elders were killed this week. Mr Wali Khan has been cheered that Pakistan’s army has closed several terrorist training-camps. On a grander scale, he wants to build on a cross-border jirga, or council, held last year, by bringing the “conflicting parties”—including America—to the negotiating table. “Let America defend its position in public,” he declares.

Policymakers and spooks are once again grappling with the intractable problems of governing the tribal areas. Pakistan inherited what the British had created as a buffer zone where, in the words of one historian, “tribesmen were like tigers in a national park” and omnipotent political agents acted as gamekeepers.

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Pakistan’s new prime minister, the PPP’s Yousaf Raza Gillani, said he would abolish the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). This is a barbaric colonial-era law, ruling the tribal areas through the threat of collective punishment, on which their autonomy is based. A pro-Taliban cleric, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, whose party has joined Mr Gillani’s coalition, threatened a tribal uprising if it was axed. An hour later the proposal was under review.

A poll published this year found that 39% of tribesmen wanted the FCR to be amended and 31% want it abolished. Nobody is clear what should replace it but over half of the tribesmen want Islamic sharia law. Karim Mehsud, who is part of a tribal-area lobby group, wants an autonomous council or government.

No instant solutions, but that is to be expected. The point is the problem is being looked at and many solutions could help fix one of the systemic problems leading to terrorism. One of the biggest problems is the dangerous mindset that violence can lead to world aid – as so well demonstrated by this statement:

Kamran Khan, the 25-year-old member of parliament for North Waziristan, says there will be fighting as long as American troops remain next door in Afghanistan. His constituents are not averse to America’s plans to pump $750m into development in the tribal areas. But they think this is peanuts. “We need billions,” he says.

Once these people are destroyed and peace is the path to investment things will change. Not until then. This topic is being addressed in many publications:

The century-old legal regime has long been seen as violating basic human rights while secluding these underdeveloped regions from modernity and progress.

In his inaugural speech, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani announced that his government will abolish what he called the “obsolete” Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). He also vowed to bring “economic, social, and political reforms” to the tribal areas, where illiteracy and poverty have helped spread terrorism.

On April 1, his new government announced the formation of a four-member parliamentary committee to look into replacing the FCR in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Ismail Khan, a journalist and analyst from the western Pakistani city of Peshawar, says political and administrative reforms are a must in these regions. But so far, the new government has not made it clear whether it wants to merely tweak the prevailing order or introduce a sweeping new governance system in the tribal areas.

I am not expecting instant success – life doesn’t work that way. But it is good to see a combination of carrots, sticks and major changes being looked at as a way to remove the terrorist from the region.

In Iraq there are signs the Basra surge by Iraqis was not a failure, and not over. First up we have an editorial that notes that the locals are the ones rising up against the presence of the Mahid Militia:

Kul Al Iraq newspaper said Thursday in its editorial on the latest violence in Baghdad and Basra that Iraqis raised their hands asking God to end the strife that could have cost many lives.

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The government was wise when it positively responded to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr’s statement when he disowned followers who carry weapons to shed the blood of people, destroy the economy of Iraq or perform actions against humanity,” it said.

The paper said the past few days proved to the people of Iraq their government is able to impose its law on everybody.

“The fighting in Basra and elsewhere last week deepened the unity of the Iraqi people and showed their united vision and true willingness to end the occupation,” it said.

Kul Al Iraq concluded that Sadr’s statement suited the Iraqi government’s decision to confront the “criminals” and follow them in order to stop them from carrying out the agenda of neighboring countries.

Not the defeat the armchair experts in NYC and DC claimed it to be. In fact Maliki is not done purging his country of this last threat to security and our ability to draw down our forces this year:

raq’s prime minister pledged Thursday to expand his crackdown on Shiite militias to Baghdad, despite a mixed performance so far against militants in the southern city of Basra.

The U.S. ambassador, meanwhile, said that despite a “boatload” of problems with the Basra operation, he was encouraged that the Shiite-led government was finally confronting extremists regardless of their religious affiliation.

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Nevertheless, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, insisted that the campaign to reclaim Basra was on track and that he would soon go after “criminal gangs” in Baghdad and elsewhere.

Al-Maliki specified two Baghdad neighborhoods — Sadr City and Shula — where the Mahdi militia holds sway and where U.S. and Iraqi forces have clashed with militants in recent days.
Both areas remain under a vehicle ban imposed last week throughout Baghdad but which has been lifted elsewhere in the capital.

“We cannot remain silent about our people and families in Sadr City, Shula and other areas … while they are held hostage by gangs that control them,” al-Maliki said. “We must liberate (them) because we came into office to serve them.”

Thankfully the people who are critical to success in Iraq are not taking the Surrendecrat way out of pretending nothing can be solved. In fact, there are plenty of reasons to be positive and realistic about Iraq’s future, which will not be a victory in the sense of previous wars, but will be a victory nonetheless if we have patience and determination. This piece by Matt Sanchez articulated the reality of Iraq quite well:

Iraq is like no other conflict in American history. It is arguably no longer a war, but a low-level insurgency. We are not fighting a country, but a transnational conspiracy that operates more like an international fast-food franchise than a military force. In this conflict, there will be no “D” Day or signing of a peace treaty.

What is victory? It is easy to take for granted the fact that there has not been another attack on American soil since 9/11 – how do you show progress when the goal is basically for nothing to happen? Few are gullible enough to believe that victory in Iraq would mean turning back the clock to a pre-Sept. 11 bliss of bloodless security.

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If the invasion of Iraq has indeed created terrorists, it most certainly has killed at least as many. Al-Qaida declared Iraq the battleground for jihad, and al-Qaida has lost that battle. In Ramadi, American soldiers had to prevent a mob from killing a potential terrorist who wanted to plant a roadside bomb. In small towns, members of al-Qaida beat men for shaving their faces and cut the fingers off of those who wanted to smoke. (Smoking is a favorite Iraqi pastime; Iraqis tend to smoke Gauloises, a French brand of cigarettes.) After assassinating many innocents, today no one believes al-Qaida has the well-being of the average Iraqi in mind, but Osama bin Laden was a hero after pulling off the initial attacks.

al-Qaeda is now the enemy of Islam, not its future. At least in Iraq. And we continue to decimate AQ’s abilities to wage jihad and attract recruits from around the globe. Progress is slow, but this is a tough and insidious challenge. One thing is for sure – giving up is not the answer. We need to redouble our efforts and our support for those risking life and limb to keep us and our children safe.

Update: Reader Crosspatch notes that the Basra offensive had clear objectives laid out before hand – which one would think the ‘experts’ would take into consideration when rendering a verdict on its execution:

Several senior Iraqi officials said that the government might soon deploy Iraqi Army troops to seize control of this city’s decrepit but vital port from politically connected militias known more for corruption and inciting terror than their skill in moving freight.

The officials refused to disclose many details Wednesday but appeared to suggest that this entire southern city, whose streets have been increasingly torn by violence as the militias vie for power, would be affected. No specific timetable was given for the move.

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Salih declined to give particulars, but when asked if the central government’s plan to seize control in Basra involved a troop buildup, he said, “Definitely so.” He added that Western troops would also be involved, raising the possibility that the effort could parallel the U.S. troop increase in Baghdad that has been credited in part for reducing violence there.

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The port is divided into a northern and a southern section, both of them sprawling, McCormick said. The northern part is “a usable port, but it’s not an efficient port,” he said, with mostly small cranes typical of the 1960s, a militia-controlled union that will load and unload ships only eight hours a day – rather than the 24 hours a day typical of modern ports – and a general air of seediness.

At first, large stacks of about 8,000 shipping containers on the docks seem to indicate brisk commerce at the northern part of the port. But McCormick pointed out that most of the containers were empty. Ships leave the containers after delivering their cargo, taking a heavy financial loss, because workers take too long to hoist the empty containers back onto the ships, McCormick said.

He added that the southern part was essentially derelict and would be opened to international investors in hopes that it could be built into a modern facility almost from scratch. With all those problems, he said, progress at Um Qasr would require physical work like dredging and clearing wrecks, security improvements and general economic development.

My guess is, now with Iraqi security forces patrolling the streets and the thugs hiding in the shadows that the investment can begin, and the locals will cheer the changes.