The WOT is going well, the president's trip there was a boost to our troops and showed the world that this president means what he says and that he will NOT turn tail and run away from the WOT. It also was a BIG boost to the new Iraqi government; it truly legitimized it and that IS a b low to the Islamonazis and gives pause to other Middle Eastern nations.
Look what happened in Nam.. we had a half million men their but we could not possibly police the country. We might control city during the day time but the Vietcong were there to take control at night. The people may have wanted to be on our side, but they dared not do so.
In NAM the forces of the United States took control. That was a mistake. Our forces in Nam fought instead of getting the Vietnamese to fight their own war.
Here we have done the opposite. We have spent a ton of time and effort training Iraqi forces. Think about it. With tens of thousands of Iraqi forces in charge of the city, the local population will get the idea that THEIR government is in charge. Lots of them in not too long a time will come out of the closet to join with THEIR government in ending the reign of terror.
This taking charge of the streets was done immediately after taking down Zarqawi. We got the leader that many of his followers were certain was being protected by Allah. Then the Iraqi government puts thousands of forces on the streets to take control. That is a huge statement to the Iraqi people.
Then the president of the worlds only super power comes to visit their prime minister. What does that do to the image of the prime minister? What does that say to the rest of the Muslim world?
One other thing I am sure of.. The Iraqi forces are not PC. They are not going to abide by the United States Media Rules of be kind to terrorists. It is not good to be a terrorist today.
The problem in creating a military and law enforcement agencies in nations like Iraq is not producing Privates, Sargent's or even low ranking officers. It is not producing cops to to work on the streets. It is the problem of producing officers to command large numbers of forces and run large police departments. That takes lots of time. It only takes weeks to make a private in an army.
It takes years to train top management in any field. A lot of it is on the job training. We are near the point of having Iraqi leadership trained and in place. It was a very difficult job because of their culture. But it is getting done.
I look for things to really chance in Iraq. It think the senate vote on recalling our troops is an indicator of that belief in the senate.
The media and most Democrats have expected things to go down hill.. much like Nam.
There is no way to win if the wrong goal is set. With the right goal and determination victory is assured.
The times ... they are a changing in Iraq... and for the better.