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You bet we can win
NYDAILYNEWS.COM ^ | 21 May 07 | FREDERICK KAGAN

Posted on 05/21/2007 6:07:13 PM PDT by elhombrelibre

Iraq is the central front in the war against Al Qaeda. And we are beginning to win. These are not talking points. They are facts on the ground, as I saw during my recent trips there.

Though you may be getting the opposite impression from news reports, the sectarian violence that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had unleashed by destroying the Samarra Mosque in February 2006 has subsided. Measured weekly, sectarian killings are down by almost two-thirds since the start of the Baghdad security plan. Anbar Province, Al Qaeda's former sanctuary in western Iraq, has turned against the terrorists. Anbaris by the thousands are signing up to fight against Al Qaeda. Violent attacks in the province are down by 50% and combined casualties down by 65% between early January and mid-May.

The movement is spreading. Sheiks in Diyala, Salah-ad-Din and Babil provinces are reaching out to coalition forces to help us.

This is not the moment to consider withdrawal time lines that would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as the U.S. Congress seems determined to do. It is the time to redouble our efforts.

It is true that the overall level of violence in Iraq remains high, and American soldiers are still dying. Scores of terrorists flow into Iraq every month, detonating suicide car bombs against civilians, Iraqi security forces and American troops. This is the core of the security problem faced by our troops and by innocent Iraqis.

But looking at these casualty numbers alone distorts reality. Security is improving across Baghdad, even in traditionally bad areas. In early May, I walked and drove through these neighborhoods. Haifa St., scene of day-long gunfights between Al Qaeda terrorists and coalition forces in January, is calm and starting to revive. Its market is open and flourishing.

Even in Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, some of which remains very dangerous, the market now has more than 200 shops - up from zero in February. Across the city, Iraqis are reaching out to coalition and Iraqi troops with tips and requests for help.

In some areas, that help takes the form of attacking the enemy and responding to enemy counterattacks. But as we kill and capture these evil people, we create safety in our wake. We are not standing between warring communities. We stand between terrorists and murderers and their innocent victims, both Sunni and Shia.

It will take time for that safety to take hold. It will take time for our enemies to accept their defeat and stop fighting. Demanding total victory by September is unrealistic. But we are making progress, and by then, I am confident we will be making more.

One thing impressed me above all on my most recent trip, from which I returned on May 13: Ordinary Iraqis have not given up. Sadrists in the parliament may demand our withdrawal, but the government of Iraq has repeatedly asked us to stay. Iraqi soldiers and police are fighting Al Qaeda and Shia militias every day, sacrificing alongside our troops.

One Iraqi commander told me, "Anyone who says the Americans should leave now is not a real Iraqi citizen."

Growing numbers of Iraqis are joining the struggle against those who want to derail Iraq's chances for security and stability. We must not let them down, and we must not let ourselves down. This is a fight that we can and must win.

Kagan, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, is author of "Finding The Target: The Transformation of American Military Policy."


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: iraq; terrorism; wot
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To: James W. Fannin

>If we can’t defend our own borders, we will lose the war.... The first nuke detonated in an American city will be brought here by an illegal immigrant.<

You are definitely on the right thread, James.


21 posted on 05/21/2007 6:32:53 PM PDT by Paperdoll ( Duncan Hunter '08)
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To: James W. Fannin
Come on. We can be for securing our borders and for defeating terrorists who attack us abroad. The two are not mutually exclusive, so when you imply that they are you’re hijacking this thread for more of the same monomania about the border.
22 posted on 05/21/2007 6:33:20 PM PDT by elhombrelibre (Al Qaeda knows Iraq's strategic value, yet the Democrats work day and night for our defeat there.)
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To: Paperdoll

You know what Paperdoll, I want to win the war more than these summer patriots do, by far.


23 posted on 05/21/2007 6:34:23 PM PDT by James W. Fannin (Thanks, Cacique)
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To: James W. Fannin

How much are you paid by democrats to be on these threads?


24 posted on 05/21/2007 6:35:21 PM PDT by lonestar67 (Its time to withdraw from the War on Bush-- your side is hopelessly lost in a quagmire.)
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To: PGalt

Kagan is a very astute observer of the world.


25 posted on 05/21/2007 6:35:25 PM PDT by elhombrelibre (Al Qaeda knows Iraq's strategic value, yet the Democrats work day and night for our defeat there.)
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To: James W. Fannin

Those suitcase bombs would be far easier to get over the borders or through one of our ports than they would by an aircraft, no question about it.


26 posted on 05/21/2007 6:37:00 PM PDT by Paperdoll ( Duncan Hunter '08)
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To: James W. Fannin

Summer patriots? How long have you been in Iraq, pal? And if you wake up with a headache do you blame the Mexicans?


27 posted on 05/21/2007 6:37:19 PM PDT by elhombrelibre (Al Qaeda knows Iraq's strategic value, yet the Democrats work day and night for our defeat there.)
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To: James W. Fannin; jveritas

Name calling and thread hickjacking, not cool. I will correct you, all of us that support the Iraq war and the WOT terror want to win very much. You have no more desire than the rest of us.


28 posted on 05/21/2007 6:38:14 PM PDT by jrooney (The democrats are the friend of our enemy and the enemy of our friends. Attack them, not GW!)
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To: Paperdoll

The war on terror should be comprehensive; it must include securing our borders. But it doesn’t mean we can lose abroad because we haven’t secured the border. Both are necessary.


29 posted on 05/21/2007 6:39:27 PM PDT by elhombrelibre (Al Qaeda knows Iraq's strategic value, yet the Democrats work day and night for our defeat there.)
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To: elhombrelibre

Agree 100%.


30 posted on 05/21/2007 6:42:49 PM PDT by jveritas (Support The Commander in Chief in Times of War)
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To: Clintonfatigued

I recommend we send this thread and information to all the talk show hosts. We need to get the word out. We have to bypass the MSM, which is irrelevant, and get the word out ourselves. If we had financial backing, we could print the truth on billboards all over the country including using Pelosi’s own words against her. Exposure is what any Liberal fears the most. There has to be a way to counter the propaganda and brainwashing being done by the MSM and Liberals.


31 posted on 05/21/2007 6:43:26 PM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
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To: elhombrelibre

Absolutely!


32 posted on 05/21/2007 6:44:06 PM PDT by Paperdoll ( Duncan Hunter '08)
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To: James W. Fannin

FGS, can’t we discuss a little GOOD NEWS without the doom and gloom prophets of certain death and destruction begin their dire warnings?? IT’s bad enough coming from the other side over and over and over, etc. WE GET IT. And contrary to your quatrains of quagmire, we are making progress. Maybe not as fast as James W. Fannin wants, but progress, none-the-less.


33 posted on 05/21/2007 6:44:41 PM PDT by small voice in the wilderness ( Bumper sticker idea: Hillary/Obama Nation '08. Let the desolation begin)
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To: elhombrelibre

Great thread info. Thanks for posting it. We are winning in Iraq and will stabilize it. We will then bring home our brave troops with a completed mission and a victory in the WOT, with a partner for peace in the middle east.


34 posted on 05/21/2007 6:45:08 PM PDT by jrooney (The democrats are the friend of our enemy and the enemy of our friends. Attack them, not GW!)
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To: jrooney
There may be a long road ahead. See this link. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2085192,00.html

And http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1837448/posts

35 posted on 05/21/2007 6:48:15 PM PDT by elhombrelibre (Al Qaeda knows Iraq's strategic value, yet the Democrats work day and night for our defeat there.)
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To: elhombrelibre

It may be long and bring much more death and destruction first, but we are winning and will win. Thank goodness GW will not waiver and thank goodness we have the best military to fight this war. The Iraqi’s are stepping up and fighting the good fight with us. God bless and speed to them all.


36 posted on 05/21/2007 6:53:26 PM PDT by jrooney (The democrats are the friend of our enemy and the enemy of our friends. Attack them, not GW!)
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To: jrooney
True, they are. And one of the strongest things we have going is the obstinate spirit Bush has had in this fight. Weaker politicians would have broken. In fact, war is about breaking the will of your enemy, and the Democrats will was broken after about two months. They’d give it all to Iran and al Qaeda and blame Bush if they could.
37 posted on 05/21/2007 6:56:31 PM PDT by elhombrelibre (Al Qaeda knows Iraq's strategic value, yet the Democrats work day and night for our defeat there.)
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To: elhombrelibre

Excellent article - thanks for posting.

Here is a video (previously posted by someone else) that tells the same story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLywXaXhB8M&NR=1


38 posted on 05/21/2007 7:02:39 PM PDT by ChessExpert (If America doesn't need a fence, neither does the White House)
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To: elhombrelibre; tg75
At least we get these reports to offset what the L/MSM produce. The reality is Iran is so hell bent and scared that Iraq is close to destroying the AQIR and other elements that support the insurgency and offering to give most of the Sunni and Baathist a break and let bygones be bygones in the name of peace and future developement that, they shall continue to step up their efforts to in anyway disrupt such a thing from happening. After all. Iran has a growing number of people that truly hate the Mullah regiem and what it stands for.
They simply cannot allow for Iraq to become a stabilized budding democracy that can get tons of aid from the worlds banks and business sector to eventually become the jewel of the ME.
I interject these thoughts I commonly preach on yet again to add to what the author had to say.
As Sandrat mentioned in another post, something big may be ready to happen in Iraq. Perhaps so. But it may be not what some would expect.
I am not so sure the Iraqi Shia majority at this point mostly composed of Arabs, are willing to allow Persians to become their masters. And Sistani simply will not advocate anything that would have Iraq fall into their hands.
And Sistani is ultimatly the supreme Shia leader in Iraq.
When he takes action, things move. Sadr and Hakim and the like must bow to his demands and those of the majority senior Shia clerics in Iraq whom are Arabs, NOT Persians.
39 posted on 05/21/2007 7:08:16 PM PDT by Marine_Uncle
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To: elhombrelibre

This is exactly the reason that I am so angry with President Bush. He can not or will not understnd the nexus of the WOT and illegal immigration. His unfailing willingness to all ow the borders to remain sieves severely damages the argument that we are in a global war against jihadism. Somebody needs to slap him right upside his head.


40 posted on 05/21/2007 7:12:29 PM PDT by jwalsh07
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