On The Ground In Iraq

Monday's edition of the UK Times Online has a story about something that may seem small but is really very significant. The opening paragraph says it all: "Fed up with being part of a group that cuts off a person’s face with piano wire to teach others a lesson, dozens of low-level members of al-Qaeda in Iraq are daring to become informants for the US military in a hostile Baghdad neighbourhood." The article goes on to illustrate how these low-level defections have helped bag some pretty major leaders. Why is this such a big deal?

Because it means there's a shift in the perception of the locals that the U.S. is winning and that Al Qaeda is losing.

That's huge, and all the more reason we should listen to General Petraeus when he says we need more time to let the surge finish its work. Speaking of Petraeus, he did an interview with Hugh Hewitt last week regarding the conditions on the ground in Iraq. You really should read the entire thing, but some highlights include:
- "we have achieved what we believe is a reasonable degree of tactical momentum on the ground"
- "Anbar Province has really become quite relatively clear of al Qaeda", "We have recently cleared Western Baquba, which was almost al Qaeda central, the capitol of the new caliphate that they have tried to establish here in Iraq"
- "there’s enormous potential implications for some of the courses of action that have been considered out there, and certainly, a precipitous withdrawal would have potentially serious implications for important interests that we have in Iraq, in the region"
- [part of the Iraqi military] "is really quite impressive, and almost at the level, certainly in regional terms, of the special operations forces of our own country"
- [the enemy] "are losing many, many hundreds of their, of these different elements each month, certainly since the onset of the surge"

So, the man commanding the U.S. forces in Iraq has many positive things to say about our mission there (he doesn't gloss over the negative, though - he's very fair-minded). I think we should listen to him, don't you?

Charles Krauthammer at RealClearPolitics wrote an editorial last week about the new (American) vision for Iraq. He starts out by saying that everyone hoped the fledgling Iraqi government could come up with some political compromises to propel their own freedom forward; since that hasn't happened, the U.S. forces have had to go with a Plan B: pacify the country region by region, principally by getting Sunnis to join the fight against al-Qaeda. The results of this new strategy are already being seen in Anbar province and Diyala province, where Al Qaeda has been almost completely flushed out. The tactics used by Petraeus (turning locals against the largely foreign Al Qaeda) include arming and aiding Sunnis to help fight alongside U.S. forces, and have a double-edge to them: some Iraqi leaders are concerned that a future civil war may be looming, and that all sides would have the strength to fight independently. While that may be the case, Krauthammer basically points out that since the Iraqi government couldn't accomplish what it needed to, the U.S. forces had to step up and do whatever was necessary to quell the insurgent violence. Once the violence is gone, the government can begin to function. If a civil war occurs after the U.S. leaves, that's Iraq's issue to deal with, not ours, and the fact that all sides have a certain measure of strength could prove to be a deterrent in the long run. The key point here is that if Iraqi leaders are worried about this, it is just further proof that our mission is succeeding.

Incidentally, if you want to read more about what's happening in Iraq, Michael Yon and Bryan Preston are two reporters traveling with U.S. forces there, and are giving first-hand accounts of what they see and hear. Check them out here and here.

In summary, by listening to the people who are there, we find yet again that a little bit more time is what is needed. Will everything be completed by September? No. But, these things take time, and the government will only become secure enough to rule on its own if we clear out the violence long enough for them to do their job. That's the mission we're on right now, and that's the mission that is succeeding. Urge your Reps and Senators to give Petraeus and our troops the time they need to complete that success. As I've said before, the only way we'll lose is if Congress legislates it.

There's my two cents.