After nearly 7 years of war since 9-11 it is worth sitting back and seeing whose credibility is shot after all the give and take over the years. I want to start by pointing to an article that Ed Morrissey discussed today to highlight this topic. Ed Morrissey notes that ‘credence’ (street ‘cred) for the British forces is wanting since their Basra stratefy attempted the same weak-kneed, pull-back approach championed by so many on the left and the two Democrats running for President. The Brits demonstrated the foolishness of the ‘run-away’ theory in spades for the world to see, and the result was Islamo Fascists taking over the southern part of Iraq and the destruction of the street cred:

Britain will maintain a garrison of 4,000 troops at Basra airport for the forseeable future, whatever the pressures on the armed forces, defence officials said last night. They described the British garrison as being there “for the long term” after talks in London yesterday between General David Petraeus, commander of US forces in Iraq, Des Browne, the defence secretary, and Sir Jock Stirrup, chief of the defence staff.

It was said that the troops were needed to continue their task of training Iraqi forces and also to maintain what officials called “political credence” with the US.

Ed Morrissey notes the changing tide regarding which approach – Bush/Petraeus or Surrendercrat – as proven to be the more credible:

“Political credence”; at one time, people wondered about our credence with the British. British commanders openly criticized the conduct of the war, especially after the start of the surge. Now, however, with both Basra and Helmand province in Afghanistan turning into debacles over the last couple of years, the British have seen their strategies fail in spectacularly embarrassing ways, and suddenly they need to regain political credence with us.

Sometimes certain strategies are best left in movies and not attempted in real life. The fact is many people have lost credibility over the years. The SurrenderMedia which keeps predicting quagmires and second comings of Vietnam has become a joke. To prove their point they have soiled their reputations with false stories and miscalls throughout. Who can forget how they carried the Surrendercrats’ water about how the Surge was a failure before it began? And how about all those declarations on Sadr’s forces in Basra had won the day? Yeah, the only thing for certain with the news media today is whatever they say is at least partially wrong.

The Surrendercrats in Congress have faired even worse. They predicted they could runaway from Iraq and force a surrender to al-Qaeda. They were wrong. They predicted the Surge would fail and then put on a childish spectacle trying to belittle Gen Petraeus (and by extension the men and women fighting in Iraq) when the Surge did start to work. They spent months trying to cut funds for our troops as they claimed they supported them – it was comical. And the only people with lower public support than President Bush is the Dem-led Congress and the news media.

But the other group that lost credibility is the real story. The Muslims Street rose up to fight in this war and – against all the prediction of the SurrenderMedia, the Surrendercrats and the Leftists in the EU – it took up arms against al-Qaeda, who has lost much of its credibility in the Muslim World:

Despite an apparent upsurge of terrorism, including the attack on President Karzai of Afghanistan, a return of suicide bombings in Iraq and a spate of assassinations in Lebanon and North Africa, in the Muslim heartlands al-Qaeda is on the retreat. The call on devout Muslims to purge the Islamic world of its corrupt rulers, that fell on such fertile ground in the Arabian peninsula, is losing its pull. In Saudi Arabia, a police crackdown and the arrest and re-education of scores of extremist preachers have persuaded thousands to renounce their former loyalty to Osama bin Laden. In Iraq, the targeting of civilians by suicide bombers and al-Qaeda’s torture of sectarian enemies has so sickened tribal leaders that most are joining in the fight against foreign extremists. And in North Africa, security forces have recently killed some 20 suspected militants.

The virulent ideology, spawned by anger at Western troops in Saudi Arabia and the perceived corruption of ruling elites, has, according to senior intelligence officers, been dissipated as terrorist groups increasingly become a front for drug smuggling, extortion, crime or ethnic hatred. Frustrated zealots have seen their attempts to rid Muslim societies of Western influence mocked and thwarted. Moderates have spoken out, Governments across the Middle East have woken up to the threat and nowhere has crude Islamism triumphed. Another spectacular atrocity remains a possibility, but the core ideology has less traction across the Muslim world.

…

Al-Qaeda remains a danger, but there is now a real chance that this backward-looking ideology can be defeated. Global terrorism is still a serious threat and parts of al-Qaeda’s deadly virus may mutate. The West must remain vigilant to confront these mutations wherever they appear.

The story goes on to note al-Qaeda is not completely beaten – yet. But look at the trend lines: It has lost almost all its ground in Iraq at a terrible price, barely holding on by hiding and intimidation. It has been pushed out of Lebanon. It has waned in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. It has had to retreat to the tribal areas of Pakistan. And it keeps crying for help from the Muslim community which apparently is not coming.

al-Qaeda still has followers. Heck, there are still Nazis around in some dark crevasses here and there. But the tide is turning against al-Qaeda as more and more of Islam sees it as the enemy of Islam and not its future. Soon too the world will realize America is not the enemy, not at fault, not the source of all ills and see us as worthy and strong friends and allies. The far left is screwing up this election cycle big time. They cannot resist bashing everything America does, even when it succeeds and is proven right. Americans can see past the hysteria and the liberal delusions. They are not so easily mesmerized or manipulated by the news media as some think. You cannot have approval ratings in the tank and be seen as a respected source of information.

The world is sorting all this out after the years of fighting and, being the optimists they are, they will see that things are not as dark and dreary as those lusting for political power try to make them out to be. We have a summer and fall to go to the election and al-Qaeda and the Islamo Fascists may not be able to hold out that long. Only time will tell who will stand credible and who will not when the dust settles in a couple of years from now. But many have been shown to be not to be very credible already.