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An excerpt of a letter from the mayor of Tal Afar, Najim Abadullah al Jibouri (a Sunni, by the way) to General Casey:

"Our city was overrun by heartless terrorists, Zarqawi and his followers, who unloaded their bloodthirsty and voracious action of evil on this city for several months by indiscriminately killing men, women and children. Tall Afar was a human slaughterhouse. Simple services were not possible, causing the people to suffer, till the day you dispatched your troops, who were our lion-hearted saviors. Your troops came to rescue Tall Afar led by our heroes, whom Tall Afar will never forget. After the major operation, your wonderful soldiers started nursing the wounds of this city by rebuilding the damaged lives and buildings with great compassion and speed. These soldiers have done more than their original mission required of them. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts."

Transcript of MNF Press Conference in which Gen. Casey reads excerpt from letter

A recent article about the Tal Afar

Then the Americans, the mayor, a new chief of police and an emboldened Iraqi army division began the long, hard work of pacifying a frightened city and restoring some semblance of law and order.

How well have they succeeded?

"Go look in our city," the mayor said. "The children run after the American officers. They know their names. These men are heroes in Tal Afar."

Tal Afar Mayor Najim Abadullah Al-Jibouri (center) has worked so closely with Lt. Col. Christopher Hickey, left and Col. H.R. McMaster (right) that he has written President Bush begging him to extend the 3rd ACR's tour of duty.

I read stuff like this, and then I read quotes from pond scum like Murtha, and I get infuriated. We are within inches of winning this war. Just as we did in WWII and in the Cold War, we have liberated millions from fascism and tyranny.

But to the liberal mind, Bush is the fascist.

I used to think there could be some accomodation with the far left.

No longer.

They are in some ways more toxic than al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has declared its intent to destroy our country, whereas the modern liberal will not, and instead acts like he is the savior instead of the destroyer.

This continues to verify the absense of Zarqawi. Heck, our guys (at least the two in the foreground) in this photo aren't even wearing body armor. If that were still a hostile area, they'd be geared up. Then again, we can't see the perimeter. However, these small snippets, ignored by the MSM are "tells" that AQ has moved elsewhere.

The interesting side benefit to this kind of success is that in each of these towns when the filth is rounded up, we end up learning additional intel on whereabouts and tactics.