Posted on 08/26/2006 11:00:11 AM PDT by pissant
There continues to be good news in Iraq. Progress continues to be made, successes continue to outnumber failures, our Military continues to do this country proud, and the Iraqi people continue to increase the assumption of responsibility for themselves and their future.
You wouldn't know it by reading the headlines and watching the nightly news, but if you look for it; look long and hard and deep, you will find it. Let's start with Gen. Abizaid's interview with Hugh Hewitt recently. On 22 August, they sat down for a discussion regarding Iraq. Hewitt's opening question was to ask for an "overview of the situation in Iraq as of mid-August, 2006?". Abizaid's initial comment follows:
"The situation in Iraq right now, as you've seen, of course, there's an awful lot of sectarian violence, particularly in the Baghdad area. We've found it necessary to move additional troops down into the Baghdad area by extending some forces that we were going to redeploy to help shore up some of the work that the Iraqi Security Forces are doing. We're putting additional Iraqi Security Forces in the field there as well. It's very clear to all of us that have been serving in this region that Baghdad's the key to Iraq, and that we've got to get the levels of sectarian violence down in order for Iraq to stabilize. We're confident it can be done. We've seen some changes already that are somewhat positive. It's still too early to say, but the combination of Iraqi Security Forces and our forces, along with some measures being taken by the new government, we're confident can, over time, move Baghdad in the right direction. "
Hewitt continues with "are you confident as well that victory is possible in Iraq? And what will that look like?" which Abizaid answers this way:
"Yeah, no, I'm very confident that victory's possible, not only in Iraq, but in the broader Middle East, if you consider victory being a Middle East where extremism is not tolerated, and doesn't have a chance of going mainstream in the region. I certainly think that in Iraq, there'll be violence after the time that American forces depart. I think that the sectarian issues are deep, but they don't need to be fatal. I believe that over time, as you build institutional capacity and the Iraqi government, and especially in the Iraqi armed forces, that Iraqis will be able to do more and more of the day to day security work. And as that happens, we'll be able to bring our forces down."
When asked if he had enough troops to do the mission to achieve that stability and victory, Abizaid responded with:
"Yeah, Hugh. We have over 200,000 American troops in the Middle East. That's down from a high of 375,000 back in '03. But more importantly, there's over 275,000 Iraqi troops, 70,000 Afghan troops that are fighting directly with us, and then you go to places like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, where they're fighting against the extremists with quite a few troops as well, and throughout the region as well. So if it was my opinion that the people in the region weren't willing to fight against the extremists on their own, then I would have a different conclusion than what I just gave you. But all indications are that the people out here are not interested in having their countries turn into Taliban-like states. But on the other hand, Shia extremism and Sunni extremism in the region are very strong, and we need to help the states help themselves against this. And at the same time, we've got to keep the flow of natural resources moving through the Straits of Hormuz, the Suez Canal, and the Babel Mandeb, which take an awful lot of air and naval power."
When asked about the size of the Sunni insurgency, and of the Shia extreme militias to be in Iraq, he says:
"Well, the Sunni insurgency is...it's difficult to put a number on it, but I'd say it's certainly less than 20,000 active, and the Shia militias that are actively confronting the coalition forces are less than about 5,000. But using numbers in an insurgency, and where sectarian violence is taking place, really, really puts it in more of a conventional footing than is necessary. You know, the numbers ebb and flow, based on what's going on. For example, after the Samarra mosque bombing, certainly the number of people that were willing to confront the Shia militias from the Sunni community were much higher than we'd seen before. "
On Syria allowing jihadists free passage into Iraq, Abizaid says:
"I'm not sure that I'd say Syria is allowing free passage, but certainly, passage has taken place through there. The numbers of foreign fighters that we see moving through Syria are probably somewhere between fifty and a hundred a month, which is down from what we saw as a high of about 100-150. You know, what makes the jihadists that are foreign fighters that come into Iraq dangerous are not their numbers. It's that they're willing to be suicide bombers. As a matter of fact, the Iraqi Sunni insurgents generally only want to pull up suicide bombers into the sector, and they're very, very dangerous in that regard, much more so than their numbers would indicate. "
On coalition forces increasing their ability to secure that border, or whether there are simply fewer people who want to come across that accounts for the decline in numbers, Abizaid says this:
"Well, I think there's certainly a certain amount of pressure that has come from the Syrian security forces, not because they want to help us, but that they realize that these Sunni extremists are a threat to the Syrian regime as well. The Iraqi border control, and the Iraqi government forces, military forces and police forces, are certainly more numerous than they used to be. But again, you know, the primary problem that exists inside Iraq is an Iraqi problem, more so than a jihadist problem, although there's plenty of money that comes from outside, not only in Iraq, but in Afghanistan as well."
The interview continues with much excellent insight from the man running operations over there and responsible for all that goes on, both in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa. I highly recommend you take the time to read the transcript of this interview.
In another "hidden" piece of news from CentCom, "leaders of groups in Babil came together Aug. 20 in Al Hillah to reconcile and denounce sectarian violence, Seeking a unified province free from terrorism and sectarian violence". This passage is especially encouraging:
The meeting was orchestrated by Maj. Gen. Qais Hamza, Babil provincial police chief, to bring representatives of every facet of Babil culture to the conference and provide them a forum to speak. It is hoped the meeting would signify the commencement of a new era in the region and the end of terrorism in southern Iraq, said a sheik in attendance.
“We have Sunnis, Shias, women, children – that is a miracle in this day of age,” he said. “Everybody knows what needs to be done, but Gen. Qais is the person who decided that it was time to quit talking and start acting.”
The idea came in coordination with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki’s 24-point national reconciliation initiative plan he outlined to the Iraqi National Council of Representatives in June. Sectarian violence has plagued Iraq for much of the year, and leaders of Babil said they wanted to lead the rest of the nation in heeding al Maliki’s words.
The meeting started off with children from the area singing the Iraqi national anthem and readings from the Holy Koran. Many of those in attendance took turns speaking about the current situation in Iraq and Babil and then gave their suggestions on how to unify the region.
“There is no winner in war,” said Aeman Alkhafaji. “Everybody is a loser.”
Speaking on behalf of a women’s rights group, Alkhafaji said sectarian violence is destroying the greatest part of Iraqi culture – the family. When the man of the house dies, there is no one to provide for the family, no backbone present to steer their children to their future. Or when a woman is killed, it crushes the family dynamic and children lose the comforting tender side of the family.
“A woman without her man is like land without water,” she said. “And a man without his woman is like a ship without sail.” Numerous Sunni and Shia tribal leaders spoke before the congregation and offered their hand to one another, promising to not let the trouble witnessed in Baghdad infiltrate their region.
“We are not Sunni or Shiite, Kurdish or Christians,” one sheik said. “We are Iraqis, and we intend to secure Iraq. The people who are fighting the old regime and each other are the same people that have lived together for over a thousand years and have drank from these two rivers.”
With all that is said in this passage, I ask a simple question. A "women's rights group"??? In Iraq??? How can this simple little phrase go undetected to even the most casual of readers??? Last I checked, under Saddam women had no rights and were routinely and repeatedly abused. How can progress such as this go undetected, even among our Mainstream Media friends? Is anyone out there aware of the fact that there are women in ministry positions in the new Iraq government?
A look a little further into Iraq progress finds a piece from Lawk Salih's blog , filled with more HONEST, good AND bad, coverage of the men and women in the streets of Iraq.
[crediting CBN News as his source, I paste his entry in its entirety here] Hassan Abu Taha is a busy man these days. His shop in central Baghdad is constantly full of people looking to buy a popular symbol of freedom in a post-Saddam Iraq— the cell phone.
"I started in this company three years ago shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Since then, business has been good," said Taha.
Business has been so good, that business owners like Taha are having a tough time keeping up with the growing demand. He sells everything from dime-a-dozen Nokia’s to high-end camera phones.
Taha said, "During Saddam's time, we only had government-run land-lines. Cell phones were illegal. Now almost everyone has a cell phone."
The internet and satellite television were also illegal during Saddam’s time. Not anymore.
"We have so many stores that sell satellite televisions today. There's a growing demand for such items," said store owner Avad Nashaat.
Taha said he's proud that Iraq is slowly becoming a modernized country.
"For years were never allowed to experience the outside world. But now, because of cell phones, the internet and satellite television, we can learn more about the world. I hope that one day our country will no longer be considered a Third World nation but a developed one," said Taha.
In so many parts of Baghdad today, small and medium-sized businesses are actually doing well. This one sells air conditioners and fans. With temperatures soaring to 122 degrees, business is booming.
"When Saddam was in charge, people did not get paid a lot of money. They could not afford to buy such items. Now, people have lots of money and are willing to spend," said business owner Oday Resq-Allah.
More than three years after Baghdad fell to U.S.-led forces, many Iraqis across the country are trying to get on with their lives. Schools, hospitals, roads, and other critical infrastructures are slowly being rebuilt. But it has not been easy.
These are very challenging times today in this nation, especially in Baghdad. Although there is relative peace up in the northern part of the country as well as in southern Iraq, in Baghdad there is a tremendous amount of tension.
Parts of the city remain essentially at war as a fierce insurgency and sectarian violence threatens to engulf the capital. American and Iraqi forces are trying to bring security to Baghdad.
In recent days, they've launched major operations to try to take back sections of Baghdad from Shia and Sunni extremists.
U.S. officials warn that if not stopped, the sectarian violence could turn into an all-out civil war.
This is hardly news to residents in one Baghdad neighborhood who believe the civil war has already begun.
“We are killing each other, Sunni and Shia. I don't understand this. We are all part of the same family. How can this be happening?" said Baghdad resident Mohammed Saleem Rashid.
Three years later, some fear the situation in Baghdad has gotten worse.
"I am so nervous about my life. If I can get a visa to any country in the world, I would leave," said Ali Abdul Jabar, another Baghdad resident.
"We still have water shortages, there's no electricity and the security situation is just getting worse. Sometimes, we have to wait three days in line just to get a few gallons of gas," said yet another resident.
A shopkeeper said, "I don't think anyone here is happy. So many people have lost hope. God willing, the Americans will stay until the situation gets better.”
Sure, there are people suffering. Of course, given the continued sectarian violence, people are dying. Absolutely everyone that wants to live and go about the business of working and raising families wants to do so peacefully and without fear. The Iraqis are beginning to assume responsibilities. They are speaking out against all this madness in increasing numbers, and they are slowly taking control of their country back. In those areas where the government hasn't stepped up to the plate, ordinary citizens and community leaders are taking it upon themselves to do the things the government can’t or won't do (sounds an awful lot like America to me). There is a victory there with Iraq's and America's, and the rest of the Coalition's names on it. We continue to get ever-so-slightly closer to it.
And, in Abizaid's own words:
"I can only say that as I...when I go home and spend time where my headquarters is in Tampa, or when I spend time where I'm from on the West Coast, it's hard to really notice that there's much of a war going on, thinking that there's a World War II level of effort going on in the middle of the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Horn of Africa, is hard for most people to appreciate. I think it's important that people understand the dangers of not contesting this area. If we let the extremists get embedded, if we let the extremists gain ground, if we let the extremists have time and resources, then I believe they'll eventually insinuate their way into the mainstream. They could then gain territory, gain time, gain weapons of mass destruction. And over time, they'd move us to the war that we're all, the big war that we're all trying to avoid. So I can only tell you that what we're doing out here is very, very important for our security. We were actually fighting these people well before 9/11, and it takes a little bit of time and effort, but people need to educate themselves about why we're fighting who we're fighting, and what it means if we back away from them. I think our young troops that are out here fighting are doing a wonderful job, and an absolutely necessary job. And I'd also like to say, just to kind of close up, Hugh, is that I don't believe it's necessary to stay out here in this huge force size forever. We can, over time, get our own forces down as long as the moderates in the region are willing to stand up, take responsibility, and move against these extremists on their own. So helping them help themselves is really the key to our success. I believe we're doing that in a lot of places. It's a hard fight, it's a long fight, but with patience and perseverance, we can do it. We certainly have got the courage of our troops to rely upon, and they won't let us down. "
To me, that's a good definition of "victory" in the Middle East. It's never going to look like Iowa (heck, California doesn't look much like Iowa), but let's get it to be stable, free, democratic, and not tolerating or ruled by terrorists.
In another Free Republic post today the tribal chiefs and imams in Iraq are reported to be calling for unity and the end to violence.
The MSM continues to try to subvert the American mindset to bring about their Communo-islamofascist agenda, the destruction of America.
I tell you what, it will not suprise me if Iraq becomes a great tourinst destination in a few years.
As we get closer to completeing the mission, the MSM continues to ratchet up the quagmire meme in a treasonous attempt to get America to pull the plug like they did in Vietnam. The consequences of that would be very similar or worse. The anti-war dems WILL BE CRUSHED.
I'm surprised at how pessimistic Abizaid is. Lots of qualifiers modifying each optimistic statement. He has been saying the exact same thing about us being able to stand down as the Iraqis stand up for two years. The same 14 of 18 provinces are calm.
I don't see progress in Iraq. I don't things have gotten better in the last two years.
Hmmmm. Last two years. Went from a temp gov't with virtually NO control on the population to a constitution, and a permanent parliamentery system. Falluja was pacified. Dozens of towns in the Al-Anbar province have been pacified. Al-Qaeda has been getting crushed and zarq is taking a dirt nap. The work in th last month in Baghdad has dramatically reduced the violence and the generals all say we are making progress.
I guess other than that, its a miserable failure.
As we get closer to completeing the mission, the MSM continues to ratchet up the quagmire meme in a treasonous attempt to get America to pull the plug like they did in Vietnam. The consequences of that would be very similar or worse. The anti-war dems WILL BE CRUSHED."
I dont know if they will be, but the SHOULD BE if we want America to succeed.
Thanks for the reminder!
I guess I've been too focused on U.S. mil deaths, which seem to slide down for several months and then spike upward again.
Maybe the current push in Baghdad is truly the "last gasp" of the insurgency...?
Did ANYONE know that we had "drawn down" the Middle Eastern forces from 375,000 to 200,000?
But surely the media back home is covering all of this, right?
Right?
{crickets chirping}
;-)
We will crush them. And the MSM along with them. The Reagan revolution continues.
I knew there were support people moved out of theatre. BTW, I looked at your homepage. I may need to get a couple of your tomes.
I've said for a while that it would be in Baghdad where the resistance would finally sputter and die.
There is still work to be done, though. The Mahdi Army is the challenge now and great progress is being made against them by our troops and the Iraqi forces.
But in order to grab the peace and sustain it, the head must be cut off. Mookie Sadr must cease to exist.
Al Qaeda is pretty much done here. The former Ba'athists have just about thrown in the towel. The militias appear to be the last stand and they'll go down as well.
The organized anti-US insurgency is losing steam, but the death squads killing police and fellow Iraqis is still a problem that is going to take some more months to quash.
Yep.
Hopefully the good people of Lebanon will do the same in the South of their country real soon.
Allegra, you'd be better off reading the Iraqi press. the MSM here is getting worse as they pull out all the stops for the Party of Ned Lamont in the 2006 elections.
Good post. Are you back home yet?
It was just hilarious how the MSM, the AP and NY Times in particular, tried to paint Nasrallah as a hero to all the lebanese people. What a sick joke.
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