(Gasp!) We’re WINNING?

THERE’S BEEN a relative lull in news coverage and debate about Iraq in recent weeks — which is odd, because May could turn out to have been one of the most important months of the war. While Washington’s attention has been fixed elsewhere, military analysts have watched with astonishment as the Iraqi government and army have gained control for the first time of the port city of Basra and the sprawling Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, routing the Shiite militias that have ruled them for years and sending key militants scurrying to Iran. At the same time, Iraqi and U.S. forces have pushed forward with a long-promised offensive in Mosul, the last urban refuge of al-Qaeda. So many of its leaders have now been captured or killed that U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, renowned for his cautious assessments, said that the terrorists have “never been closer to defeat than they are now.”

That’s from an outright astonishing piece, the usually in- the- bag- leftist Washington Times.

Iraq passed a turning point last fall when the U.S. counterinsurgency campaign launched in early 2007 produced a dramatic drop in violence and quelled the incipient sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites. Now, another tipping point may be near, one that sees the Iraqi government and army restoring order in almost all of the country, dispersing both rival militias and the Iranian-trained “special groups” that have used them as cover to wage war against Americans. It is — of course — too early to celebrate; though now in disarray, the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr could still regroup, and Iran will almost certainly seek to stir up new violence before the U.S. and Iraqi elections this fall. Still, the rapidly improving conditions should allow U.S. commanders to make some welcome adjustments — and it ought to mandate an already-overdue rethinking by the “this-war-is-lost” caucus in Washington, including Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

It seems to me that the Democrats… including Obama…  should be paying the price for so badly mishandling Iraq…  At what point do the Democrats come out and say… “You know, we were wrong, calling Iraq a failure’? Presumably, once they attain office, from the people they constantly lay blame for that failure… the failure that never happened.

Nor, I think, do they deserve leadership roles, now, being uniquely ill-suited to lead us in Iraq now… As the piece suggests, Obama… and by extension, the rest of the Democrats… have no plan for success… and I would add, have NEVER had one, being so damned busy chasing failure.

It is also interesting that WaPo clearly identifies in their piece, the source of Iraq’s unrest: Iran. Amazing. Just a few months ago, by the WaPo’s lights, the source of unrest there was George W. Bush.

But now we have two causes for excitement. That the WaPo clearly and correctly identifies the problem… Iran… and that the WaPo would even make mention of this whole thing, particularly the Democrat mishandling of the whole thing, so close to an election. Perhaps things are looking up more than we’d hoped? I mean, if WaPo is finally admitting it….

Others:

AJ Strata, who quips:

Let’s look on the bright side, when Obama takes his trip to Iraq it won’t be that dangerous of a place to visit – thanks to the fact President George Bush refused to listen to the Surrendercrats in Congress.