Iraq: Assumption, Or Conventional Wisdom?

I doubt the Nutroots will make it beyond the lede of this Ignatius item in the Washington Post before going into full meltdown mode. The rest of the Op-ed does nothing to discourage the assumption. In fact, even on The Hill, it appears to be becoming the conventional wisdom. Too bad. heh!

Let's assume that the numbers from Iraq are right and that there has been a significant reduction in violence there. Let's even agree that the Bush administration's strategy is finally showing some success. Isn't that an argument for accelerating the transfer of security to the Iraqis -- and speeding up the withdrawal of some U.S. support troops?

U.S. military commanders are now discussing precisely these issues. Some argue that the Bush administration should seize the moment -- and take advantage of its recent gains -- by handing off more responsibility to Iraqis. That's the definition of success in this mission, after all -- to create enough security that we can bring most U.S. troops home.

Comments

[scarshapedstar]

"Iraq Forever!"

Please, please, please make that the #1 Republican talking point. This will be a spectacular election.

[Frank G]

We would be wise to make longterm deals for bases in Iraq - 50 yrs or more. We will be needing them to counter the Islamic fetishists that the Donks keep encouraging

[jj]

A win in Iraq will change the dynamics in the upcoming election. I can see it now, Hillary, Reid, and Murtha taking credit for holding out for the win. Yuk..Yuk!

[K]

I favor no change in policy at this time. Withdraw, not fast but very steadily. That seems to be current plan.

It is vital that the Iraqi people believe we will leave and then see proof. Nothing will undermine terrorist factions in Iraq faster than disproving the assertion that we secretly intend to be permanent occupiers.

The situtation in Iraq that will count with voters will be the one of October 2008. We don't know what that will be. No matter where you stand politically, today will mean nothing by then.

Here is what we can be certain of: Bush will be hated insanely by the left far past his death. No outcome in Iraq or elsewhere will ever change that. The MSM will never ever give him credit no matter what the outcome. Bush will be not be President in fifteen months. Any candidate of either party will lie about ninety percent of the time.

[Terry Gain]

Michael Barone has a good post up at Real Clear Politics.

"Democrats are coming face to face with the fact that there's a war on -- and that Americans prefer success to failure. If the choice is between stalemate and withdrawal, as it seemed to be in November 2006, they may favor withdrawal; but if the choice is between victory and withdrawal, they don't want to quit -- or to undermine the effort. "

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That 30% who want to complete the mission is soon going to be 60% and this thing is going to be over a lot sooner than most people think. So there boob.

[waka waka]

"We would be wise to make longterm deals for bases in Iraq - 50 yrs or more. We will be needing them to counter the Islamic fetishists that the Donks keep encouraging"

Don't look now, but I think there's an "Islamic fetishist" hiding in your closet! Hahahahahaha! LOL!

[Fred Beloit]

wanker wanker reminds me of so many suck puppets that come here to enlighten us. One looks to their comments for something even the least bit new. Alas they are incapable of anything but rehashing the same old drivel.

wanker wanker, tell us, oh you who are so wise in the ways of diplomatic science, when should we withdraw from Korea? We have been there since about June 1951.

wanker wanker, tell us, oh you who are so wise in the ways of diplomatic science, when should we withdraw from Germany? We have been there since about January 1945.

[bobInStamford]

"That 30% who want to complete the mission is soon going to be 60% and this thing is going to be over a lot sooner than most people think. So there boob."

You deadender 24%ers are pathetic. Admit that you voted for a moron (twice) and that you lost your silly little war and get on with your lives.

[jj]

You want your country to lose a war, and you're pissed that we're winning. Get over it, boob, and join the winners for a change. You don't want to be a loser for the rest of your life, do you? Well, do you?

[Terry Gain]

"Get over it, boob, and join the winners for a change. You don't want to be a loser for the rest of your life, do you? Well, do you?"

No way. We don't want him. He lifts our spirits with his "Surge on" moronisms. Leave that loser on the other side.

[Purple Avenger]

"Admit that you voted for a moron (twice)"

Sure, and that "moron" snookered all your sub-moron democrat rocket scientists in the congress into going along with him. Fine company you keep that can be so easily hoodwinked by morons Bob.

Can I sell you a bridge in Brooklyn? Cheap.

[bobInStamford]

"Get over it, boob, and join the winners for a change."

The 24%ers are 'winners'? Thats a good one.

Surge on, deadenders!! Only few more hundred billion dollars and Baghdad will be under COALITION control!! Think what a proud day that will be!!

[jj]

That day is here, boob, better jump on the wagon now, before it is too late. Don't be left with Reid, Murtha, Pelosi and the 11%ers. Be a man for once in your life, boob. Stand up, throw off the shackels of Leftism, and be free and happy. You don't have to be miserable. Change for the better, just this one time in your life. You can do it.

[Terry Gain]

I volunteer to push boob off the wagon when he attempts to jump on.

[LOL]

wait, so we're finally turning a corner in iraq?

[RPKINMD]

How about doing what is best for the country not what is best for the Republican party. A rush to ditch Irasq maybe immediate gradification but not necessairy good for us in the long run.

[bobInStamford]

Poor, sad Terry Gain with his Iraq 'war' cheerleading. Sorry patriot, you lost. Get on with your life. Surely, there is SOMETHING that you can focus your efforts on.

[Terry Gain]

Osama has issued a new videotape which confirms what most of us know. al Qaeda is taking a shit kicking in Iraq. boob may be in denial about the current situation in Iraq but even bin laden tacitly admits that THE SURGE IS WORKING.

Despite the best efforts of the boob party to have America withdraw from Iraq and risk al Qaeda plunging Iraq into civil war, patriotic peace loving Americans have resisted the delusional call for a short term "solution" to the difficulties in Iraq. The mission will be finished and a lot sooner than most people anticipate.

Coalition forces and Iraqis are steadily creating a peaceful Iraq. This month the daily numbers of innocents killed have on some days been held to single digits.

The true warmongers are those, like boob, who anonymously resist these efforts.

[waka waka]

Happy "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" everybody! My boss gave me the day off. After all, "In the face of the greatest danger Americans have ever confronted, the academic left has mobilized to create sympathy for the enemy and to fight anyone who rallies Americans to defend themselves." LOL!

[chris]

"al Qaeda is taking a shit kicking in Iraq"

Al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq until the Decider decided to invade it. So, if the Decider decided to invade, say, Bolivia, there would be an Al Qaeda in Bolivia. I don't expect you to wrap your feeble mind around much more than the flag, but try.

[Cindi]

Amazing that chris would know where al qaeda hangs out.

Should anyone need a good laugh, check this out.
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/

[Cindi]

oops

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/189863.php

[Fred Beloit]

Thanks, cindi, but I've already had a very good time watching Mr. christamfordmum chew on the back of his neck. This poor man, his political and military judgement in tatters, struggles to find some shred of hope for his philosophy of winning through losing. The preposterous and ponderous Paglliaccio of Bridgeport.

[Pierson W. W. Dilliwithers-Mathers III, Major, Confederate States Army (Retired)]

Two generations or so ago, defeatists like Waka Wanka and BobChrisStamfordmum would have been run out of their respective towns on a rail, or possibly even shot as enemy sympathizers.

Time may have changed, but low down snakes in the grass who breathe defeatism and anti-American sentiments are still low down snakes in the grass. I betcha they are damnyankees, both of them.

[Purple Avenger]

"so we're finally turning a corner in iraq?"

The corner was turned about a year ago. Anyone who didn't have their head firmly impacted up their posterior sensed the tide turning.

[Cindi]

Quite funny isn't it? Here is some good news from Iraq. Although the MSM doesn't want you to have it.

http://www.mnf-iraq.com/

[waka waka]

"Two generations or so ago, defeatists like Waka Wanka and BobChrisStamfordmum would have been run out of their respective towns on a rail, or possibly even shot as enemy sympathizers.
Time may have changed, but low down snakes in the grass who breathe defeatism and anti-American sentiments are still low down snakes in the grass. I betcha they are damnyankees, both of them."

Pierson, you old fascist, you. I'm from NC and proud of it. Anyway, why is it that Southerners somehow think they're the most patriotic when they're the only region to have GONE TO WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES?
Why do you hate America, Pierson?

[chris]

"Two generations or so ago, defeatists like Waka Wanka and BobChrisStamfordmum would have been run out of their respective towns on a rail, or possibly even shot as enemy sympathizers."

Sorry, redneck the 'good ole days' are over. Now back to work, before a Mexican comes along and takes your job.

[scarshapedstar]

"Anyway, why is it that Southerners somehow think they're the most patriotic when they're the only region to have GONE TO WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES?"

Hey, it may have been treason, but at least it was in defense of... slavery?

Wait, never mind.

[Fred Beloit]

Say, guys didn't that war end about, oh, 142 years ago with Republican Lincoln's side winning? Not that it isn't something we should passionately debate as much as, say, the Romans enslaving the Greeks.

[Pierson W. W. Dilliwithers-Mathers III, Major, Confederate States Army (Retired)]

My, you whippersnappers are but perky this morning.

As for me, being some 80 years dead, the outcome of the War of Damnyankee Aggression don't matter much to me anymore. A'sides that, we all kissed and made up, back when I was called up by ol' Colonel Roosevelt himself to charge up San Juan Hill. He wasn't such a bad fellow, for a damnyankee.

But I sure do love it when some of these carpetbagging Marx and Engels copy cats get all in a tizzy about a topic 142 years dead, by jingo!

[Terry Gain]

al Qaeda is taking a shit kicking in Iraq"

Al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq until the Decider decided to invade it. So, if the Decider decided to invade, say, Bolivia, there would be an Al Qaeda in Bolivia. I don't expect you to wrap your feeble mind around much more than the flag, but try.Posted by: chris | Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 10:33 AM
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They are there now, bozo. Try to keep up. What's left of them will soon be fleeing for Pakistan, where they are about to meet Allah.

GWB- liberated 58 million Muslims and destroyed al Qaeda. Best (and most vilified) President since Lincoln?

[chris]

"GWB- liberated 58 million Muslims and destroyed al Qaeda. Best (and most vilified) President since Lincoln?"

Hahaha. BEST.POST.EVER. Hahaha!!! GW Bush - best President since Lincoln! Hahaha!

Terry Gain may be the most pathetic 24%er of them all. Please re-enlist, Terry - your BEST President needs you!!!! Hahahhaha!!!!!

[seekeronos]

"--- GWB- liberated 58 million Muslims and destroyed al Qaeda. Best (and most vilified) President since Lincoln? ---"

Certainly a n0oteworthy accomplishment. The only way he could top Lincoln would be to arrange a private commission of Baptist preachers and missionaries, say, about 10,000 - 15,000 strong - to win that nation over to Christ.

[waka waka]

"Say, guys didn't that war end about, oh, 142 years ago with Republican Lincoln's side winning?"

THe idea that Lincoln would be a Republican were he alive today is priceless! Hahahahahaha!

[seekeronos]

I don't think anyone here has said or implied that they regard Lincoln as a "neocon" or even a modern day idea of a Republican.

On the same token, he wouldn't fit the mold of a Marxist-Leninist Democrat either.

I think he'd be more like a Ron Paul, minus the irritating voice and political isolation by the mainstream (marxist) media.

[templar knight]

You liberals have put all your eggs in the one basket of us losing the war in Iraq, and it's not looking like that is going to be the case. And whether you like it or not, at some point in time, you are going to be seen as terrorist supporters at best, and the worst case scenario for you will be traitor. So I guess you boys better sign up for al-Queda. They need more than cheerleaders. And when we do win, you people are going to be in a world of shit.

[bobInStamford]

Ah yes, the Bush Memorial on the Washington Mall. Ole Smirky in marble holding a copy of 'My Pet Goat' in one hand and a bottle of Chivas in the other. What a hero, what a president, what a DECIDER.

The SURGE is working, heroes! Only another $500 Billion and the brown people of Baghdad will bend to the will of the COALITION.

[waka waka]

"You liberals have put all your eggs in the one basket of us losing the war in Iraq, and it's not looking like that is going to be the case. And whether you like it or not, at some point in time, you are going to be seen as terrorist supporters at best, and the worst case scenario for you will be traitor. So I guess you boys better sign up for al-Queda. They need more than cheerleaders. And when we do win, you people are going to be in a world of shit."

Yeah, I'd love for my country to "lose." It would just make my life and the lives of my children SO much better.
Take your head out of your a$$, Templar. Just because we think the war was a monumental waste of time, money, lives and American prestige, does not mean we don't want OUR country to win it. If a shining beacon of democracy appeared in Iraq tomorrow, it still would not make this fiasco worth it. It would be the making the best of a bad situation, which is better than nothing, I guess.

[seekeronos]

"--- If a shining beacon of democracy appeared in Iraq tomorrow, it still would not make this fiasco worth it. ---"

Are you SURE about this statement?

It sounds pretty defeatist to me.

More bluntly, it could be misconstrued to mean that you really don't care much for America in general. I just hope that you aren't like some of those nutballs in San Fransicko who routinely show up for protests decked out in a kaffiyeh, a Che T-shirt, and signage praising the PLO and Hizbullah.

Such folks - while well within their first amendment rights... could in another vein be seen as being equivalent to francs-tireurs and saboteurs who seek to thwart and hinder the American war effort by any and all means.

Just like them boys in Camp X-Ray at Gitmo.

[Fred Beloit]

"Just because we think the war was a monumental waste of time, money, lives and American prestige, does not mean we don't want OUR country to win it." by wanker wanker

I've been waiting for a statement like this from the surrender-at-any-price group of patriots. That it comes for one of the most excitable boys in the group makes it all the more savory. See, Pagliaccio, wanker is throwing in the towel. Even he finally sees the surge has worked so he is trying to move ever so slightly to the winning side to avoid the opprobrium of he fellow citizens.

[Michael Volpe]

It never ceases to amaze me how much hubris people have. I don't know how much military experience Ignatius has however by the proposal he is pushing, it doesn't appear to be much. Our strategy is working precisely because the Iraqis that are in the lead know they have the full force of the military behind them. The Sheiks flipped precisely because we gave them assurances that we would stick around indefinitely.

Here is what I see happening on the ground. The Anbar Awakening put AQI on the defensive. They tried to re organize in Diyalah, but we followed them there and their sphere became smaller and smaller. With their own sphere smaller their ability to attack diminished greatly.

As a result the use for Shia militias became less because they were the primary source of protection to the Shia from Sunni militias. Once their use became lessened their own evil was more visible and the Shia commoner turned on them as well.

Once all the militias were on the defensive, they began in fighting and it became classic divide and conquer.

This whole entire dynamic works only because we are maintaining maximum pressure on them while they are defensive, if we let up, as Ignatius suggests, then we immediately give them the momentum back. Asinine.

Here is how I analyzed it.

http://proprietornation.blogspot.com/2007/10/divide-and-conquer.html

[templar knight]

Exactly, Michael, now is the time to put more men over there, and finish this thing off. AQ is on the run, let's kill as many of them as possible, and put the rest to flight to Pakistan. That mother's hive in Pakistan will have to be dealt with sooner or later, and my advice is to take it a step at a time, slowly but surely moving in the direction of Pakistan.