We have beaten al Qaeda and its allied Islamo Fascist forces in Iraq with the help of a newly liberated and democratic Iraqi People. I have said it many times, but it bears repeating. After 9-11 al Qaeda was the future of Islam, infamous for having delivered a massive blow against the Great Satan.

But after a long hard fight in Iraq (as President Bush did claim it would take, forget about any exuberant aides) we have a totally different future to ponder and work for and cherish. al Qaeda and its brutal allies – such as the Mahdi Army (backed by Iran) – were on their heals and losing ground after the first invasion. The Iraqis were voting and starting to change their views of where they wanted to go. So these thugs used the only leadership tool they know – brutal and bloody violence.

al Qaeda went on such a bloody rampage against the Iraqi people – all to get the co-dependent liberal media to post pictures of a winless war (funny how these media allies also are facing extinction) – that they created a historic backlash called ‘The Awakening”. It started in Anbar Province in the fall of 2006, the center capitol of al Qaeda’s promised modern caliphate. In 2007 President Bush beat back the naysayers and wimp-out quitters in Congress – with the help of allies like John McCain, Gen Dave Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker – and we met the The Awakening with The Surge. 

And over time we cleared out the rats nests with the help and support of the Iraqi people, and defeated al Qaeda’s plans for taking over the Middle East. In the end, al Qaeda was not Islam’s future but – to many Arab Muslims – Islam’s greatest enemy. The Great Satan was now ally and protector, while the Islamo Fascists were the new face of Satan.

As the Wall Street Journal notes today, President Obama has (indirectly, so as to not unhinge his liberal supporters) paid homage to the efforts of President Bush, to the point he is willing to protect our hard earned success by providing a reasonable exit strategy:

Though the headlines from the President’s speech mostly focused on his promise to end all U.S. combat operations in Iraq by August 31, 2010 — and withdraw U.S. forces fully by the end of the following year — there was considerably more to it than that. For starters, Mr. Obama again acknowledged that our forces in Iraq had “succeeded beyond any expectation,” not least his own.

Mr. Obama was also rightly generous in his praise of outgoing U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Generals David Petraeus and Ray Odierno, “two of our finest generals.” All three men were Bush appointees, and all were instrumental in devising, advocating and implementing the surge strategy that Mr. Bush pursued amid the derision of his critics, including then-Senator Obama.

President Obama also recognized that Iraqis themselves have made significant political progress, and that “there is renewed cause for hope in Iraq.” That’s a far cry from his message of last July, when he told reporters, after visiting Iraq, that “So far, I think we have not seen the kind of political reconciliation that’s going to bring about long-term stability in Iraq.”

But more important than Mr. Obama’s implicit repudiation of his own positions as a candidate (and the implicit vindication of Mr. Bush’s position, to say nothing of John McCain’s) is his decision to maintain a sizable U.S. military presence in Iraq — in the range of 35,000 to 50,000 troops — past the August 2010 “withdrawal” date. That “transitional force” is roughly the size of the U.S. military presence in South Korea through the Cold War. And its mission, involving training of Iraqi forces, U.S. force protection and “targeted counterterrorism missions,” largely describes what the U.S. is already doing in Iraq.

Most of Iraq’s provinces are under full Iraqi security control, and U.S. forces will be out of all Iraqi cities and towns by this July, as stipulated in the Status of Forces Agreement that the Bush Administration concluded with the Iraqi government last year. By making it clear a sizable U.S. force will remain in Iraq, Mr. Obama is showing a commitment to Iraq’s continued democratic progress and should help deter a revival of ethnic tensions. He’s also making clear the strategic advantage of having a stable U.S. ally in the heart of the Persian Gulf.

The sincerest form of political flattery is to retain the policies of your predecessors with determination and respect. He could have been more blunt in acknowledging his policy salute to Bush (even if he had to be convinced behind closed doors by the Bush policy allies). But I will accept this form of recognition, because it does protect the gains we paid for with our dearest blood. And in the end, that is what is most important.

IRAQ’S NEW election law will not, by itself, stop sectarian violence. Nor will the law, which governs provincial elections early next year, deliver electricity, clean water, and jobs to bomb-blasted urban areas and forlorn villages. But in adopting the law by a unanimous vote last week, members of the Iraqi Parliament made it clear that they recognize the benefits of waging their power struggles by purely political means.

Recent changes in the power balance among factions made the agreement on the election law possible. Al Qaeda in Iraq has been pretty well smashed by the Awakening Councils – 100,000 armed men paid by the American military and deployed by Sunni Arab tribal leaders. On the other side of the key sectarian divide in Iraq, the government of Shi’ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki used the Iraqi army to take on the militia of Moqtada al-Sadr, reducing that firebrand cleric’s sway over Basra in the south and large areas of Baghdad.

In this new situation, members of Parliament could see advantages to making the compromises an election law required. With fear of a Sadrist takeover reduced, Maliki and his political allies in the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq had a chance to enhance their representation in Parliament, thanks to their new aura as nationalist enforcers of security.

Yes Barack, you were horribly wrong about Iraq and what we could achieve, and your stubborn grip on your failed views illustrates a dangerous arrogance, where ego trumps finding the best solution to our country’s problems.

“There are the bloodstains on the wall, and here it is dried on the floor,” Abu Muhanad said as he walked through a torture chamber in a Baghdad mosque where more than two dozen bodies have been found.

“And here, a woman’s shoes. She was a victim of the militia. We found her corpse in the grave.”

Chunks of hair waft lazily across the floor in the hot Baghdad breeze.

“This was the torture room,” said Muhanad, the leader of a U.S.-backed armed group that now controls the mosque.

I saw this report on CNN last night (see below) and it was horrific. It makes you wonder how such evil could exist in humanity. But it also reminded me of something I posted back in late May when the Mahdi Army were on the run:

There are some very naive and delusional liberals who still think the Iraq government victory over the Mahdi Army criminals is actually a victory for Sadr and his Sadrists movement. But they are simply grasping at straws so they do not have to face how pathetically wrong they have been on the Maliki action itself, the war in Iraq and the war on terror generally. The fact is the Sadrists and al-Sadr gave political cover for heinous crimes commited by the Mahdi Islamo Fascists as they raped and killed their fellow Muslims. Once Basra and Sadr City were liberated it was only a matter of time that these atrocities would start to be reported and become public, as told by the people who were being oppressed.

…

I predicted this would be the actual fallout from the liberation of the Shiite areas of Iraq from the jackboot of the Mahdi Militia. Like all Islamo Fascists they are obsessed with committing the most brutal of crimes against their fellow humans. It is their deep insecurity that drives them to hate, and then punish, those who have successfully evolved with the modern world. It is their acidic insecurity that drives them to rape and torture those who represent what they can never be. This is the ugly side of inciting the failures in life to a messianic cause – they get god complexes and start meting out punishment with gusto and glee.

Their horrific atrocities are now the indelible story of al-Qaeda’s vision of Islam. It repulses most humans and must send a shiver of fear through most Muslims. I applaud CNN for going back and reminding all of us why we fought in Iraq, and why we redoubled our efforts to achieve victory in Iraq. This is the story of how America defeated some of the greatest evil to walk this planet:

OK – seems CNN’s embed code is not working on the main page here, so while we figure this out here is the link to the CNN website, or you can click the title of this post and it go to a single page view and it should work.

 

 

The Muslim Street is not going to go willingly into this nightmare.

Why? What possible benefit could America derive from entering a war in Iraq against terrorism and losing? What is better than having those terrorists flood all their forces into Iraq – diverting them from Western targets – only to be decimated, while the Iraq Muslim street determines the future of Islam is not following al-Qaeda but working within the international community and dealing with the US of A as an ally? What would have been the upside to losing Iraq, to losing our new Muslim allies, of supporting the idea al-Qaeda is the future for Islam in a clash of civilizations that could spread across the globe? What would defeat in Iraq provide us?

The only upside I can see is to imbibe a modicum of credibility upon a group of petty and angry liberals who would tip the world into years of war just to get some political pay-back on George W Bush. Appeasing the emotionally stunted victims of Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) is probably the worst reason man has ever created to go to war.

Let me violate my ban on AP for one instance so we can savor the SurrenderMedia finally admitting that Iraq is being won, if not already won:

The United States is now winning the war that two years ago seemed lost.
Limited, sometimes sharp fighting and periodic terrorist bombings in Iraq are likely to continue, possibly for years. But the Iraqi government and the U.S. now are able to shift focus from mainly combat to mainly building the fragile beginnings of peace — a transition that many found almost unthinkable as recently as one year ago.

Despite the occasional bursts of violence, Iraq has reached the point where the insurgents, who once controlled whole cities, no longer have the clout to threaten the viability of the central government.

Emphasis mine. The potential for success was only unthinkable to those emotionally committed to the idea Bush could never be right, Bush could never turn things around, that Muslims would rather be slaughtered and tortured by al-Qaeda than ally with America. Only someone who craved defeat as a beautiful confirmation of their own warped views would so completely ignore the potential for success.

Why? Because one short year ago the Anbar model had been proven successful. Last year was the transition from a localized experiment in counter-insurgency tactics to a nationwide strategy aimed at rolling back the terrorists across the entire country. Which leads me to one last story on how much things have changed, which begs the question of why the left cannot let go of their mistaken desires. This story from the NY Times discusses how completely the Shiite communities have also discarded violence and extremism – showing that both the Sunni and Shiia factions of Islam are not as the SurrenderMedia proclaimed:

The militia that was once the biggest defender of poor Shiites in Iraq, the Mahdi Army, has been profoundly weakened in a number of neighborhoods across Baghdad, in an important, if tentative, milestone for stability in Iraq.

It is a remarkable change from years past, when the militia, led by the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr, controlled a broad swath of Baghdad, including local governments and police forces. But its use of extortion and violence began alienating much of the Shiite population to the point that many quietly supported American military sweeps against the group.

This is the essence of the denial that still infects Obama and the Surrendercrat power brokers. They cannot understand how Muslims could ever turn to America instead of rising up in support of al-Qaeda and Mahdi thugs. That was THEIR horribly wrong assumption. That was THEIR disastrous mistake in judgement. That was why THEY still crave defeat and find themselves alone and looking quite foolish as they stand by their hopes for American defeat in Iraq. They couldn’t see why America could, once again, be the beacon of hope and promise for a people ravaged by the hate of a few extremists.

I have a theory that the GOP and far right began to resemble the fanatical nature of the Islamo Fascists, and that is how they lost support in 2006. They are not identical by any means, but the overheated, religious based bashing of one time moderate conservative allies was too similar, even at that distance, to our radical national enemy. Too many wanted a war on Islam, not a war on Islamo Fascists.

Now the Surrendercrats are looking to be the extremists. To hold onto political animosity to the point war and the potential for massive defeat seem like a reasonable option again raises the specter of radical terrorists. I said a long time ago this was an untenable and unforgiving position to be in. If victory came the Surrendercrats would be decimated. It has come, and there is only one conclusion America can draw from their continued embrace to a now proven horrible plan. McCain is right, too many would accept war to win an election. Thankfully, America is not radical, and actually is repulsed by them. What hit the GOP in 2006 is now about ready to swing against the Surrendercrats in 2008.

There comes a tipping point where obstinate views transform into dangerous, radical ideology. Clearly Obama and the Surrendercrats have passed this point, and there is no return unless they accept their views were wrong. This will not be happening.

Addendum: I meant to underscore how insane this all is by an analogy to the last time the world faced down a fascist cult. This regret at success in Iraq would be like someone claiming in 1945, after the invasion of Europe by allied forces had freed most of Europe and Hitler was hunkered down in his bunker in Berlin, that the invasion of Europe was not worth the price paid. It would be like preferring a Europe in the grip of fascist madmen than being on the brink of freedom. Everyone could see the invasion at Normandy cost America and the allies immense costs in blood and treasure. And the Western economies and people were under severe economic stress. But it was worth price then, and it is more than worth the price now. This time we stopped the fascist cult before it became so strong the price was millions of dead and injured. And those who cannot see this are themselves in the throws of cult-think.

To be so consistently wrong is an amazing achievement, and the SurrenderMedia is clearly out of its element and has its eye closed tightly to reality. But they cannot hide from reality forever. So let’s look at this shining failure in Basra today:

Security progress in Basra is “overwhelming” and Iraq’s second-largest city could be “another Dubai in the coming decade,” the commander of Multi-National Division – Southeast said June 14, referring to the bustling international business hub.

British Army Maj. Gen. Barney White-Spunner told Pentagon reporters via teleconference from Baghdad that Operation Charge of the Knights – ordered by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in March – has “well and truly” turned the tide in the city.

Before the operation, militias controlled large parts of the city. Militia leaders, many under control of Iran, intimidated the populace and turned the city into a crime empire.

Basra is key to Iraq’s success, with oil fields, the port of Umm Qasr and the international airport being economic engines for the region, White-Spunner said.

Note to Barrack Obama – this smashing success in Basra was achieved by ignoring you and your lame calls for surrender. The new Basra can thank all those who ignored Barrack Obama. As the Washington Post noted in a recent Op-Ed piece, Obama as become trapped by his wrong-headed, long term plan to surrender Iraq at any cost:

BARACK OBAMA yesterday accused President Bush and Sen. John McCain of rigidity on Iraq: “They said we couldn’t leave when violence was up, they say we can’t leave when violence is down.” Mr. Obama then confirmed his own foolish consistency. Early last year, when the war was at its peak, the Democratic candidate proposed a timetable for withdrawing all U.S. combat forces in slightly more than a year. Yesterday, with bloodshed at its lowest level since the war began, Mr. Obama endorsed the same plan.

What irony! Obama has not ‘changed’ his flawed and disastrous position through all this, but President Bush did. He threw out the old guard which resisted a troop Surge and put in place people and plans that turned a possible defeat into an emerging victory. And Obama is looking damn stupid (if not insane) to not note the progress and adjust his mindset.

Senator, give credit where it is due. Thankfully those in power ignored you and Basra is the result of those actions. If you want to see what YOUR plans would have wrought, just take a tour of the West Bank.

While others have been hesitant to call Iraq a victory up until recently, I felt the die was cast months ago (actually over a year ago). When the Sunni Muslims took the extraordinary step to wage war on al-Qaeda, and ally with the Iraq and US government efforts and forces, there seemed little chance of defeat. No insurgency can stand up to a public uprising against it, in parallel with a government crack down – there is no path to victory in those situations.

More to the point, I said last year “as goes Diyala [Province], so goes Iraq”. I felt then Diyala would be al-Qaeda’s last bastion, since it was the location of the second Capitol City of Bin Laden’s modern Caliphate (the first one being Ramada in Anbar Province, which was lost to them in late 2006). Clearly losing two capitol cities within a year to your enemy must be a sure sign of defeat. I had no idea the path would be so long and weave through so many Provinces (then again, a good military effort hides its plans and all I had to view the effort were biased news reports). But it seems I was right in the end.

Here is one of my earliest posts on the matter from June 2007:

As goes Diyala so goes Iraq, the Surrendercrats and the SurrenderMedia. Too bad the GOP had to implode over Immigration. They could have enjoyed the success, but now they are in tatters. And Bush will be looking good if Iraq does rise up against al-Qaeda. He’ll be looking damn good. As will McCain and Leiberman, BTW.

And here is another post from August 2007:

So Anbar rose up and killed and chased al-Qaeda from its region, with our help. Diyala Province then became the last large sanctuary for al-Qaeda in Iraq. The Surge was orchestrated to close the noose around al-Qaeda in Diyala. But it would only really work if, as in Anbar, the local population rose up to kill and chase al-Qaeda out of their Province. And if that happened we had the making of a domino effect that would not only sweep Iraq, but would sweep across the Middle East and the Muslim world. That is why I said, as goes Diyala so goes Iraq and the world.

It was not as crazy a prediction as many like to make it out to be. Once the Muslim Street rose up against al-Qaeda there was not turning back because of the blood feud concept in Arab culture. It was hard to see anything that would reverse that kind of Tsunami change. Here we are, a year later, and we have the last battle for security in Iraq in none other than Diyala Province:

Iraqi security forces are poised to launch a major crackdown in Diyala Province, the Interior Ministry said Sunday, the latest in a series of operations aimed at stabilizing the country.

…

U.S. and Iraqi officials say a campaign against Al Qaeda in the northern city of Mosul and surrounding Nineveh Province has helped reduce violence there. Other operations have targeted Shiite militias in the southern provinces of Basra and Maysan.

“Soon, the security forces will be in Diyala to play the role they played in Basra and Maysan and Mosul, and Diyala could be the last stage,” Major General Abdul-Kareem Khalaf, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said at a news conference.

…

Overall attacks across Iraq were down 85 percent in June from a year ago, the Iraqi military said last week.

…

Iraqi security forces were taking the lead in more than 75 percent of security operations, the national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, told CNN.

As noted the Iraq government also vanquished the Shiite Mahdi Militia during this period. Well, it is nice to be vindicated after a year of being labelled Pollyannish and overly optimistic. The Surrendercrats and SurrenderMedia are paying a horrific price as their credibility has been destroyed. And now Michael Yon, someone of impeachable stature on the Iraq situation and who at one time claimed Iraq was all but lost, is declaring Iraq a victory:

A new and better nation is growing legs. What’s left is messy politics that likely will be punctuated by low-level violence and the occasional spectacular attack. Yet, the will of the Iraqi people has changed, and the Iraqi military has dramatically improved, so those spectacular attacks are diminishing along with the regular violence. Now it’s time to rebuild the country, and create a pluralistic, stable and peaceful Iraq. That will be long, hard work. But by my estimation, the Iraq War is over. We won. Which means the Iraqi people won.

Yon is very pessimistic on Afghanistan, which is where he and I started with Iraq in late 2006 to early 2007 timeframe. I am not worried. When local populations rise up and the government cracks down, the insurgents have no hope of winning. My guess is that will be the story of al-Qaeda’s demise in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as it was in Iraq (and elsewhere like Lebanon, Libya, etc).

Update: It seems even the Labour Party in the UK is not foolish enough to cut and run from Iraq. If Obama is so enamored by the Europeans, maybe he should take note that the UK is not setting any timetables to remove their troops from Iraq, instead they are staying until the job is done right.

THE call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States.

…

In the 18 months since President Bush announced the surge, our troops have performed heroically in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda — greatly weakening its effectiveness.

But the same factors that led me to oppose the surge still hold true. 

What is this fool smoking? After a smashing success where Iraq is all but eradicated of al-Qaeda and the Muslim world is turning on it because of al-Qaeda’s atrocities on their fellow Muslims, nothing has changed? Obama really is full of himself to arrogantly think most Americans are not snickering behind his back right now. Last year a forced withdrawal over THE OBJECTIONS of the Iraqis and our President would have handed Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda a huge victory, keeping them alive and making them the future of Islam. Iraqis would have been slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands (instead of the tens of thousands al-Qaeda and their allies killed) and Iran would have rushed in to save the Shiite from another massacre.

Instead al-Qaeda is now the enemy of Islam – that happened because no one listened to you Senator Obama. Right now Iran’s influence on Iraq has been dealt a serious blow as Shiite Prime Minister Maliki spearheaded the destruction of the Mahdi Militia – something that would not have happened if we listened to you Senator.  Right now al-Qaeda and the Taliban have a very limited and encircled sanctuary in the tribal lands of Pakistan – not something we would have seen if they had taken over Iraq and were heading to Israel, as they planned – because we listened to you Senator.

Obama is really an incredibly idiotic politician.  He has been drinking too much of his own Kool Aid.  No one is going to believe that, by ignoring the Senator’s suggestions for two years, all of a sudden our victory means the Senator was right all along.  

Sorry Senator, but it was George W Bush who was right all along, and it is he who is bringing our troops home in victory!

 

Today the UK Times Sunday is reporting the end of al-Qaeda in Iraq - it is reporting mission accomplished!

American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.

After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul.

A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.

Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.

Barack Obama is not going to end the war in Iraq. If he ever gets elected, by the time he takes the oath of office it will be already over – thanks to the US Surge, the Sunni Awakening and PM Malike’s defeat of the Mahdi Militia. Mission Accomplished, with thanks to our military, who never gave up like the liberal, democrat Congress did, to our Iraqi allies who fought and died by our side, and to George Bush who made it clear failure was not an option. To the victors!

Iraq has met all but three of 18 original benchmarks set by Congress last year to measure security, political and economic progress, according to a report by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

The embassy’s evaluation, compiled in May, contrasts sharply with other recent assessments that Iraq has failed to achieve many of the goals that the Baghdad government and President Bush said would be reached by the end of 2007. A report by the Government Accountability Office, released last week, cited little improvement in the political and economic spheres and noted continuing military problems despite a significant decline in overall violence.

The embassy judged that the only remaining shortfalls were the Baghdad government’s failure to enact and implement laws governing the oil industry and the disarmament of militia and insurgent groups, and continuing problems with the professionalism of the Iraqi police.

Emphasis mine. Maliki’s actions against the Mahdi Militia in the last two months as fixed one of the two remaining benchmarks, so we are down to only 2. And I would say Malikis efforts in the last few months took on a lot of the issues with the Police. And I recall the oil distribution plan has been developed, probably only needs to be voted on. Clearly we are within reach of all of these.

Let’s recap some history here, while we enjoy the crow the Liberal Surrendercrats are chewing on at the moment. In June of last year, when the Surge was just beginning and the Democrats had finally realized they could not surrender Iraq to al-Qaeda, the all-seeing, the all-knowing, the Svengali-like leader of the Surrendercrats in the Senate, Harry Reid had this to say:

“As many had forseen, the escalation has failed to produce the intended results,” the two leaders wrote.

“The increase in US forces has had little impact in curbing the violence or fostering political reconciliation.

“It has not enhanced Americas national security. The unsettling reality is that instances of violence against Iraqis remain high and attacks on US forces have increased.

“In fact, the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for US troops.

Boy, you don’t screw up more than that. If he was a surgeon he would be sued for malpractice. Heck, if he was a car mechanic who diagnosed our engine problems this badly he would be sued for malpractice. When, in the fall of 2007 it became clear violence levels were dropping, the Surrendercrats sung a new tune (whilst they attempted character assassination on General David “Betray Us” Petraeus). Then it was benchmarks. As late as February of 2008 the Surrendercrats were still claiming the Surge was a failure because of the lack of political progress given the progress in security. Here is the all-seeing, the all-knowing, the Svengali-like leader of the Surrendercrats in the House, Nancy Pelosi, this last February:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said twice Sunday that Iraq “is a failure,” adding that President Bush’s troop surge has “not produced the desired effect.”

“The purpose of the surge was to create a secure time for the government of Iraq to make the political change to bring reconciliation to Iraq,” Pelosi said on CNN’s “Late Edition.” “They have not done that.”

The speaker hastened to add: “The troops have succeeded, God bless them.”

What has happened since? Well, Prime Minister Maliki took the lead in facing down and dismantling the Mahdi Militia in Basra, Sadr City and Amarah using Iraqi forces in the lead, and he also spear headed the purge of Mosul of the last remnants of al-Qaeda. With the Iraqis taking the lead role in security, and addressing all security issues be they al-Qaeda/Sunni or Shiite or Kurdish, he has built the trust of the various factions.

The Surrendercrats needed defeat. They predicted defeat. They even tried some 40+ congressional votes to mandate defeat in Iraq by pulling the funds on our efforts and sacrifices. Since they have no clue how to win wars they tried what they knew how to do from Vietnam – to lose the Iraq war. But this crop (or should that vowel be an ‘a’?) of Liberal Surrendercrats are so incompetent they couldn’t even pull off another Vietnam. These Neville Chamberlain wannabes couldn’t even paralyze the Europeans from supporting our efforts.

And now Victory in Iraq is close at hand! And the credibility of the Liberal Surrendercrats has been totally destroyed. We now simply pity them and their foolish dreams of defeat for America.

At the start of 2007, no one in Baghdad would have predicted that blood-soaked neighborhoods would begin returning to life within a year. The improved conditions can be attributed, in increasing order of importance, to President Bush’s surge, the change in military strategy under General David Petraeus, the turning of Sunni tribes against Al Qaeda, the Sadr militia’s unilateral ceasefire, and the great historical luck that brought them all together at the same moment. With the level of violence down, the Iraqi government and Army have begun to show signs of functioning in less sectarian ways.

This admission by the SurrenderMedia is long in coming. The effort to continue the delusion that it was not the concerted efforts Americans and Iraqis that turned the tide, but instead some mystical karma, is comical and illustrates why the liberals are losing the debate on Iraq. A debate the liberal media swears they cannot lose to the GOP again. But aside from the ignorance on how we are were we are in Iraq, the reality on the ground is forcing the left to realize Obama’s surrender plans are now seriously and dangerously flawed:

The same pragmatism that prompted him last month to forgo public financing of his campaign will surely lead him, if he becomes President, to recalibrate his stance on Iraq. He doubtless realizes that his original plan, if implemented now, could revive the badly wounded Al Qaeda in Iraq, reënergize the Sunni insurgency, embolden Moqtada al-Sadr to recoup his militia’s recent losses to the Iraqi Army, and return the central government to a state of collapse.

Emphasis mine of course. However, I seriously doubt Obama does understand he is poised to destroy all our efforts in Iraq, that he is poised to throw away all those sacrifices in blood that brought Iraq out of the darkness of al-Qaeda’s nightmare ambitions. Right now we need to be praying for some luck that Obama’s demonstrable inability to understand Iraq over the last few years is not actaully reality, but some sophisticated political ploy that is working just fine for one and all! Now that is a leap of logic no sane person can make.

Obama has not shown a shred of insight and understanding on Iraq, and I doubt he can catch up on one brief trip there this summer. The fact is he and the liberal Surrendercrats are tied to their promises of doom in Iraq. Their reputations and credibility are based on Iraq being an unmitigated disaster, not the success it is turning out to be.

June will be coming in as one of the lowest months for violence against American forces – it is now tied for the 4th lowest month of the entire war, with all but one of the top three occurring this year alone. And June will be the lowest month for Iraqi casualties (security forces and civilians). al-Qaeda is all but vanquished and the Mahdi Militia has surrendered completely. And still Obama’s policies have not changed nor have his out of date claims on his website been corrected.

If the man cannot keep up on the key national security issue facing this country, what makes him believe he is qualified to be President? Iraq is one part of the big job of running this country, and Obama is failing to stay current on just that subject alone. He is clearly more concerned with votes than issues facing this country if he remains paralyzed to his far left pandering from over a year ago.

The Mehdi Army of Moqtada Sadr is evolving into a clandestine movement following Iraqi military operations targeting the group, intelligence suggests.The military wing of the Sadrist Movement, the political party loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, is “turning itself into a secret armed organization,” an Iraqi intelligence official told the Gulf News on condition of anonymity.

Iraqi intelligence reports suggest the group’s numbers have dwindled from around 50,000 to as few as 150 in the past few years.

Intelligence officials credit decisions by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to launch military offensives against Shiite militants in the southern parts of the country as deterring the group. An Iraqi intelligence official reports as many as 2,000 Mehdi Army fighters were killed in recent operations in Basra, Sadr City and the provincial capital of Maysan, Amarah.

Emphasis mine. As I predicted many times, the Arab Shiites of Iraq have no interest in becoming disposable pawns for the Persians of Iran. If the Mahdi Militia under control of Sadr do decide to become traitors to Iraq, then that exposes them and Sadr to becoming enemies of the state.  If this happens then the gloves will really come off. But with most of the Mahdi basically deserting and integrating back into the Arab/Iraq community, leaving a small manageable number of militants, it will be a small job in dealing with them.

Either way, the Mahdi Militia is no more, as is al-Qaeda.  Very little is left to declaring victory in Iraq.  To me the last steps needed is the handover of the last provinces to Iraq control and we can move into the next phase with our new ally in the war on terror.

Addendum: I want to note that the Democrats cannot play the “we helped achieve this victory” after their despicable behavior and defeatist predictions from last year.  After months of trying to cut the war funding and retreat they would only be laughed at by attempting such an idiotic move.  We are on the verge of the full ‘mission accomplished’ for Iraq.  

Obama, being the naive and clueless empty-suit that he is, will no doubt attempt to try and claim credit for this success. But in the face of all his votes and statements calling for defeat and faux victory parades for our troops he will only make a fool of himself to everyone outside the liberal mindset, and be seen as a traitor to the liberal cause when he does. I expect he will be inserting his foot in his mouth any day now.

The Democrat Party has had a running dialogue with America for years now about how we are such losers for trying to change humanity’s trajectory, why we cannot destroy the building hate in the Islamic states of the Middle East by replacing dictatorships and Islamo Fascism with democracy and freedom. We have been told America is not qualified to change humanity’s future (even though we have been doing just that for over 200 years now). This has been their story, and they are sticking with it.

The Surrendercrat Party, with their enablers in the SurrenderMedia, have been trying to stop all opportunities for success in Iraq because they see this as the one subject that could dramatically change the current support for President George Bush and the GOP. Their new standard bearer has stated he will retreat no matter what the conditions, not matter what damage and bloodshed would follow. There is no denying his position – which he clearly stated in one the last debates with Senator Clinton (who mirrored this self destructive plan for America):

Back in 2006 and early 2007, when the Democrats crawled out on this limb of defeatism, the chances were at best 50-50 we would lose Iraq. In reality, for those of us watching events on the ground closely, the seeds of victory were already sown in Anbar Province and beginning to grow. The Democrats were so obsessed with their Bush Derangement Syndrome the ignored the warning signs that things could very well end with victory in Iraq.

Now, in 2008, the Surrendercrats and SurrenderMedia are stuck out on their shaky, dying limb – still praying for defeat somewhere. They thought they had it when Prime Minister Maliki purged Basra of the Mahdi Militia – they were wrong. They thought they had defeat in Sadr City when US and Iraqi forces cordoned off that enclave of Mahdi Militia and Iranian weapons – they were wrong. They have expected to see al-Qaeda rise like a Phoenix from the ashes of their defeat in Iraq – to no avail.

What we have seen instead is a steady stream of successes by Iraqi forces and the dawning realization we have probably reached a successful conclusion in Iraq – though no one is willing to say we have yet crossed that threshold. The SurrenderMedia now has to report their worst nightmare as fact – success in Iraq:

Violence in all of Iraq is the lowest since March 2004. The two largest cities, Baghdad and Basra, are calmer than they have been for years. The third largest, Mosul, is in the midst of a major security operation. On Thursday, Iraqi forces swept unopposed through the southern city of Amara, which has been controlled by Shiite militias. There is a sense that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government has more political traction than any of its predecessors.

Consider the latest caricatures of Mr. Maliki put up on posters by the followers of Moktada al-Sadr, the fiery cleric who commands deep loyalty among poor Shiites. They show the prime minister’s face split in two — half his own, half Saddam Hussein’s. The comparison is, of course, intended as a searing criticism. But only three months ago the same Sadr City pamphleteers were lampooning Mr. Maliki as half-man, half-parrot, merely echoing the words of his more powerful Shiite and American backers. It is a notable swing from mocking an opponent perceived to be weak to denouncing one feared to be strong.

…

While the increase in American troops and their support behind the scenes in the recent operations has helped tamp down the violence, there are signs that both the Iraqi security forces and the Iraqi government are making strides. There are simply more Iraqi troops for the government to deploy, partly because fewer are needed to fight the Sunni insurgents, who have defected to the Sunni Awakening movement. They are paid to keep the peace.

We are on track in Iraq for one of the lowest casualty months for Iraqi security forces and civilians of the war. And we will still be on track for one of the lowest months of US casualties (though last month was the record setter). The quagmire of Iraq is not coming.

The alliance of Shiite and Sunni Iraqi moderates who oppose and will fight Islamic Fascism with the US as ally has come into being. Sunni, Shiia and Kurdish Iraqis now stand opposed to Bin Laden and his brutish thugs. America has real allies in the heartland of Middle East Islam. And the story is just as positive in Afghanistan. The last remaining enclave for al-Qaeda is the tribal regions of Pakistan, where they are under continued pressure and are taking significant losses on a weekly basis.

Michael Barone notes today how reality has really shifted out from under the Democrats as they still sit out on that wobbly old branch of defeatism:

As we enter the second half of the campaign year, facts are undermining the Democratic narrative that has dominated our politics since about the time Hurricane Katrina rolled into the Gulf coast — most importantly, the facts about Iraq.

During the Democratic primary season, all the party’s candidates veered hardly a jot or tittle from the narrative that helped the Democrats sweep the November 2006 elections. Iraq is spiraling into civil war, we invaded unwisely and have botched things ever since, no good outcome is possible, and it is time to get out of there as fast as we can.

In January 2007, when George W. Bush ordered the surge strategy, which John McCain had advocated since the summer of 2003, Barack Obama informed us that the surge couldn’t work. The only thing to do was to get out as soon as possible.

That stance proved to be a good move toward winning the presidential nomination — but it was poor prophecy.

Being wrong is not a sin or a crime. But denying when your wrong, refusing to see the evidence smack-dab in front of your eyes, to be so deep in denial as to suspend all reality to hold onto a failed concept – that unnerves people. How is it Obama can change his position on FISA and Campaign financing but not make adjustments on Iraq – which clearly has seen much more dramatic change than those other two hot-button issues?

Given their current approach to Iraq, Obama’s and the Surrendercrat’s inability to adjust to reality will destroy their credibility with the American people as we move towards the 2008 Elections – and rightfully so. I don’t think this is as much a prediction as an unavoidable fact. We will be heading into the 2008 elections with Islamo Fascism on the run, with new Muslim allies in Iraq and Afghanistan to help keep Bin Laden at bay (he will be busy dodging his fellow Muslims, which leaves him little time to send attacks our way). The fact the left was willing to throw all this away less than a year ago will be something weighing heavy on every American’s mind as they head to the polls.

Today the news reports note the crowds are now in the hundreds. Sadr and his Sadrists movement our about to become a footnote to history.

The last Sadrist enclave in the city of Amarah, Maysan Province (along the Iran border and a suspected weapons smuggling route from Iran) is now being purged of traitors to Arab Iraq.

Another five aides of Iraq’s hardline Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr were detained overnight in a crackdown on militiamen in the southern oil region of Maysan, sparking fresh tension on Friday between Baghdad and the cleric’s supporters.

“Five officials from the provincial council who represent the Sadr movement have been arrested for aiding the militia,” Maysan police spokesman Mehdi al-Asadi told AFP.

He said four policemen were also arrested in the operation which was launched on Thursday in Maysan and its capital of Amara.

Officials had on Thursday announced that the mayor of Amara, Rafa Abdul Jabbar, a member of the Sadr movement, and 15 wanted suspects were arrested in the first hours of Operation Basha’ar al-Salam (Promise of Peace).

The operation which was continuing on Friday involves Iraqi police and soldiers, backed by US troops, carrying out house to house searches.

US commanders say Maysan has become a major centre for arms smuggling into Iraq from overwhelmingly Shiite Iran just over the border.

Those who worked for Persian Iran to destabilize Iraq and kill Arab Muslims will be facing justice soon. And given the bad blood between Arabs and Persians I would not want to be in their position right now. Maliki and the Iraqi government has stood up and taken control of its destiny, now that it has lead successful operations in Basra, Sadr City, Mosul and Amarah.

We really have achieved a victory in Iraq. But it can still be reversed, so time for celebration is not quite at hand (we don’t want another Berlin Wall and cold war with Iran). All we need is a little more patience and the sacrifices made by all those who died in this war will have been honored. Impatience is no reason to lose our victory now, not after all we have been through.

Update: Much more on the Amarah Operation at the Long War Journal:

The Mahdi Army took heavy casualties while opposing the Iraqi security forces in Basrah [in] and the South and US and Iraqi forces in Sadr City during operations to secure the areas in March, April, and May. More than 1,000 Mahdi Army fighters were killed in Sadr City alone, and another 415 were killed in Basrah. Several hundred were killed during fighting in the southern cities of Najaf, Karbala, Hillah, Diwaniyah, Amarah, Samawah, and Nasiriyah.

Of course, the far left liberals still tout all this as a huge success for Sadr and the enemies of America and Iraq. Those wacky liberals!

Dozens of Shiite militiamen surrendered to Iraqi forces on Wednesday hours before a deadline set by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for them to lay down their arms ahead of a new military crackdown.

Officials said the four-day deadline given to the fighters in the southern oil rich province of Maysan was successful although some militants had escaped ahead of the crackdown set to begin at midnight (2100 GMT).

In no small part this was due to the pre-surrender of the Sadrist Movement as it was facing the Iraqi government action (see here and here). During the window of amnesty Iraqi troops massed in key locations, cordoning off the area so as to make sure no remaining big fish could escape the net (many had left already for Iran, which borders the Province and the City).

The operation began today and was met with little resistance or fighting as the Sadrists and the Mahdi Militia rolled over in surrender:

Iraqi troops are meeting no resistance as they achieve their objectives calmly in the crackdown against Shiite militias in the southern Maysan province, a security official told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Thursday.

In the early hours on Thursday, the troops started a security offensive against militias after a four-day deadline for militants to surrender their arms expired.

‘The offensive has started without armed clashes. We are achieving our objectives calmly and we met no resistance,’ General Abdel-Karim Khalaf, the spokesman for Iraqi Ministry of Interior told dpa.

‘Troops are working in normal conditions without having to impose a curfew,’ the general said.

In one of the more bold elements of the move a deputy governor, a Sadrist leader, was apprehended:

Security forces in Iraq arrested the deputy governor of Missan province on Thursday in a security operation against Shia militias, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported. 

According to Voices of Iraq, the Missan Deputy Governor, Rafeaa Jabar, who is also the mayor of the city of Amara, is a senior figure in the Mahdi Army militia of the anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The director of al-Sadr’s office in Missan, Sheikh Adnan al-Silawi, confirmed Jabar’s arrest to VOI.

Amarah and the surrounding Maysan Province are thought to be the central hub for weapons and other support from Iran.  By taking control of this border area Iraq has severely curtailed Iran’s ability to cause mayhem and atrocities inside Iraq.  

The liberal SurrenderMedia will have a tough time twisting this fourth, successful major action across Iraq in so many months as a big defeat in the quagmire of Iraq.  All four of these efforts (Basra, Sadr City, Mosul and now Amarah) were Iraqi led efforts with US and coalition forces in back up roles.  It is a clear sign we have achieved victory in Iraq, which will be marked with an exclamation point with the new round of elections this fall and next spring.  The deniers can keep their blinders on – but it only makes them look ever more foolish, ever more incredible.

The defeat of Sadr, the Sadrist Movement and their thuggish Mahdi Militia continues apace today as massive numbers of gunmen turn themselves into authorities in Amarah, capitol city of Maysan Province along the Iranian border:

Gunmen from different armed groups have begun to surrender to Iraqi government troops in the city of Amarah ahead of a military crackdown due to start there later this week, an Interior Ministry official said on Tuesday.

“Big groups have started surrendering themselves and their weapons,” Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf told reporters in Amarah, the capital of Maysan province.

His comments come just two days ahead of the expiration of a deadline for gunmen in the city to surrender their weapons or face harsh measures.

“Some of these people who have surrendered are important people, and their hands were not stained by the blood of innocent people,” Khalaf added.

As Bush and McCain have said, we can easily obtain victory in Iraq and begin to withdrawal our forces in victory instead of defeat as proposed by Obama and the Surrendercrats. Liberal angst and anger cannot stop our victory now, nor should it. It is time to recognize the positive results fought and sacrificed for by our military and civilian men and woman who served in Iraq.

If you support the troops, support their victory!

(or else admit you are bitter liberal clinging to your fantasies of a defeated America and the second coming of Vietnam – Doh!)

Folks can read my first post on this here