Photo taken by Nancy Alvarado

The situation in Iraq has significantly changed, both militarily and politically, for the better.  But then why do antiwar, anti-success-in-Iraq advocates stubbornly persist to push for withdrawal?  For the umpteeth time I say to you:  because admitting Iraq has hope to become a proud democratic nation, would require a pat on President George Bush’s back, not to mention the shame and humiliation of losing the political badge of honor.

How has the situation in Iraq changed, you may ask? 

September 10, 2007, top commanding general of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Gen. David Petraeus, made a presentation (complete with charts and maps), to a House of Representatives panel. Gen. Petraeus oversees all coalition forces in Iraq and carries out the new Iraqi counterinsurgency strategy outlined by the Bush Administration   In his presentation, he evaluated the 30,000 troop surge and military strategy initiated in February 2007.  He reported that our troops have succeeded in meeting its goals since the troop surge "in large measure." He also presented solid evidence of success, stating:  "The level of security incidents has declined in eight of the past 12 weeks, with the level of incidents in the past two weeks the lowest since June of 2006."

As 2008 Presidential candidate John McCain and Joe Lieberman wrote for the Wall Street Journal September 10, Iraqi forces, Iraqi allied forces and U.S. forces have gained each other’s trust and learned to work together.  U.S. and Iraqi civilian relations have strengthened, and as a result have contributed to recent success in Iraq.  In fact, only a year ago al Qaeda controlled “large swaths of the country’s territory.”  Today, Iraqi Sunni Arabs are committed to drive out al-Qaeda insurgents and break their grip on Iraq.  Sunni tribal leaders in former al-Qaeda stronghold Anbar and Diyala provinces have joined with the U.S. and driven out al-Qaeda insurgents.  Secretarian violence a year ago made many think the situation hopeless.  Now with the teamwork of Iraqi forces and U.S. forces, civilian murders in Baghdad have reduced by 50 percent. 

Frankly, success in stripping Bush of all honor and recognition, conflicts with success in Iraq.  This is why while many anti-success-in-Iraq advocates cannot deny the evidence of progress in Iraq, that they are now pointing the political blame finger at someone else: the Iraqi government.  Hilary Clinton criticized the Iraqi’s government’s performance, instead of her usual complaints of the Bush Administration’s strategy in Iraq.  In response Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, said, “They should come to their senses.”

Not all anti-war critics have remained stubborn, however.  Democratic Congressman Brian Baird who voted against the invasion of Iraq, recently reported after returning from Baghdad: “The people, strategies, and facts on the ground have changed for the better, and those changes justify changing or position on what should be done.” 

Indeed General Petraeus has proved his strategy extremely successful.  Funny though how “supportive” anti-war advocates are of our top commanding general, even as they deem Iraq hopeless.  It is insolent to our troops to neglect or disregard recent success and hope for Iraq. 

After all, Iraq is approaching the point when only minimal help from American forces will be needed.  Gen. Petraeus indicated that some of the U.S. troops committed during the surge will begin leaving by December, with the entire 30,000 contingent to follow by mid-2008.  This will decrease the amount of troops in Iraq to 130,000. "I believe that we will be able to reduce our forces to the pre-surge level...by next summer without jeopardizing the security gains we have fought so hard to achieve."

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