« Seattlepi.com: Bush robs cancer sufferers of hope | Main | Federal government Tells 85-year-old Grandmother She Cannot Put An Angel (or anything Christian) On Christmas Tree »

November 8, 2007

The 'End of the begining' in Iraq

Topics: Iraq

When the bastion of anti-military, anti-American, leftwing babble, The New York Times, writes that the security situation in Baghdad appears to have taken a distinct turn for the better, you can bet your bottom dollar that the security situation in Baghdad has indeed taken a distinct turn for the better. As the NYT puts it:

American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the "surge" to depart as planned.

Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of United States forces in Baghdad, also said that American troops had yet to clear some 13 percent of the city, including Sadr City and several other areas controlled by Shiite militias. But, he said, "there's just no question" that violence had declined since a spike in June.

"Murder victims are down 80 percent from where they were at the peak," and attacks involving improvised bombs are down 70 percent, he said.

General Fil attributed the decline to improvements in the Iraqi security forces, a cease-fire ordered by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, the disruption of financing for insurgents, and, most significant, Iraqis' rejection of "the rule of the gun."

As Captain Ed describes the post-surge situation in Baghdad, referencing Churchill's comments in 1942 following the battle of El Alamein, "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end," but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.":

The New York Times reports that US forces have "routed" al-Qaeda in Iraq from the Baghdad region. General David Petraeus' new strategies have pushed them out of "every neighborhood", and that only an eighth of the city remains to purge the other militias from control. The new, aggressive tactics of the Americans and the rise of the Iraqi Army have solidified the victory over the terrorists

Given the central place Iraq has in the war on terror, it is a battle to show that free, self-governed people can prosper and flourish without radicalism. In that sense, Baghdad has only reached the end of the beginning, and perhaps not even quite that. But it is welcome news indeed that it has been rid of AQI and that the Shi'ite militias have retreated.

Indeed, this may be only the beginning of the end of al-Qaeda in Iraq, but perhaps now even the naysayers will begin to recognize that the end has begun.

Posted by Richard at November 8, 2007 9:56 AM

Articles Related to Iraq:

• The 'End of the begining' in Iraq - Nov 08, 2007