DON'T GIVE UP ON IRAQ YET!
Read this excellent article in Real Clear Politics on the MSM's failures in reporting and an "on the street" assessment by Ralph Peters, a retired U.S. Army officer, after his recent visit to Iraq after the Golden Mosque bombing.
Claims of civil war. In the wake of the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, a flurry of sectarian attacks inspired wild media claims of a collapse into civil war. It didn't happen. Driving and walking the streets of Baghdad, I found children playing and, in most neighborhoods, business as usual. Iraq can be deadly, but, more often, it's just dreary.
Iraqi disunity. Factional differences are real, but overblown in the reporting. Few Iraqis support calls for religious violence. After the Samarra bombing, only rogue militias and criminals responded to the demagogues' calls for vengeance. Iraqis refused to play along, staging an unrecognized triumph of passive resistance.
Expanding terrorism. On the contrary, foreign terrorists, such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have lost ground. They've alienated Iraqis of every stripe. Iraqis regard the foreigners as murderers, wreckers and blasphemers, and they want them gone. The Samarra attack may, indeed, have been a tipping point--against the terrorists.
Hatred of the U.S. military. If anything surprised me in the streets of Baghdad, it was the surge in the popularity of U.S. troops among both Shias and Sunnis. In one slum, amid friendly adult waves, children and teenagers cheered a U.S. Army patrol as we passed. Instead of being viewed as occupiers, we're increasingly seen as impartial and well-intentioned.
The appeal of the religious militias. They're viewed as mafias. Iraqis want them disarmed and disbanded. Just ask the average citizen.
The failure of the Iraqi army. Instead, the past month saw a major milestone in the maturation of Iraq's military. During the mini-crisis that followed the Samarra bombing, the Iraqi army put over 100,000 soldiers into the country's streets. They defused budding confrontations and calmed the situation without killing a single civilian. And Iraqis were proud to have their own army protecting them. The Iraqi army's morale soared as a result of its success.
Reconstruction efforts have failed. Just not true. The American goal was never to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure in its entirety. Iraqis have to do that. Meanwhile, slum-dwellers utterly neglected by Saddam Hussein's regime are getting running water and sewage systems for the first time. The Baathist regime left the country in a desolate state while Saddam built palaces. The squalor has to be seen to be believed. But the hopeless now have hope.
The electricity system is worse than before the war. Untrue again. The condition of the electric grid under the old regime was appalling. Yet, despite insurgent attacks, the newly revamped system produced 5,300 megawatts last summer--a full thousand megawatts more than the peak under Saddam Hussein. Shortages continue because demand soared--newly free Iraqis went on a buying spree, filling their homes with air conditioners, appliances and the new national symbol, the satellite dish. Nonetheless, satellite photos taken during the hours of darkness show Baghdad as bright as Damascus.
Plenty of serious problems remain in Iraq, from bloodthirsty terrorism to the unreliability of the police. Iran and Syria indulge in deadly mischief. The infrastructure lags generations behind the country's needs. Corruption is widespread. Tribal culture is pernicious. Womenâs rights are threatened. And there's no shortage of trouble-making demagogues.
Nonetheless, the real story of the civil-war-that-wasn't is one of the dog that didn't bark. Iraqis resisted the summons to retributive violence. Mundane life prevailed. After a day and a half of squabbling, the political factions returned to the negotiating table. Iraqis increasingly take responsibility for their own security, easing the burden on U.S. forces. And the people of Iraq want peace, not a reign of terror.
- The Day We Drag The Bodies Through The Streets
Is this Iraq's destiny? PERHAPS no fact is more revealing about Iraq’s history than this: The Iraqis have a word that means to utterly defeat and humiliate someone by dragging his corpse through the streets. The word is “sahel,” and it helps...
- Terrorists Welcome Isg Report
Well, who would have thought it? The Iraq Study Group advocates retreat, surrender and appeasement and the "insurgents" in Iraq think it's a great idea. Insurgents and militias in Iraq on Thursday welcomed the recommendations made in a report by the...
- Kofi Annan, Statistician
Iraq worse than under Saddam, says UN chief Kofi Annan today bitterly criticised the Iraq war, saying Iraqis suffered greater fear than under Saddam Hussein. The United Nations Secretary General said the level of violence was "much worse than in civil...
- And 4 Days After Rummy Is Fired....
Army report finds training alone can't fix Iraqis' discipline problems or... How do you infuse 200 years of what democracy really is, in 6 months, AND demote sharia? WASHINGTON — More than three years into the post-Saddam Hussein era, the...
- The Media's Latest Lie – A "civil War" In Iraq
Courtesy of Winds of Change, here's a devastating rebuttal of the latest line of BS about Iraq to effuse from the (leftist) Mainstream Media: It is a wonder that the Blogosphere hasn’t picked up on the latest media “Frame” on the war in Iraq...