Posted on 03/01/2008 6:08:41 PM PST by Kaslin
Politics has broken out in Baghdad.
Long derided as dysfunctional, Iraq's parliament in recent weeks has passed a package of laws on the budget, elections and sectarian reconciliation that have given cautious hope to U.S. officials and private analysts that the gains from President Bush's military surge are finally being matched by a political surge as well.
Daniel Serwer, a specialist on post-conflict societies, recently led a delegation from the Washington-based U.S. Institute of Peace to Baghdad to assess the political scene and interview the major Iraqi players inside the Green Zone.
"The popular image is that things are completely deadlocked in Baghdad," he said. "That's not what we found at all."
Instead, he said, the delegation found Iraqi politicians cutting deals, making compromises and forming alliances based more on power and votes that on religious or ethnic bonds.
"There's a lot of floundering, a lot of thinking and rethinking, a lot of new voices emerging," he said. "But it's a good deal less polarized than we anticipated."
Mr. Bush and his fiercest critics on Iraq have long agreed that the tactical gains of the U.S. military surge will matter only if they are followed by political gains among the country's feuding ethnic and sectarian camps.
Even top U.S. officials conceded last fall the early political returns were meager, with the Iraqi parliament failing to act on a string of political "benchmarks" set by Washington, and failing at times even to obtain a quorum to conduct basic business.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
more impressive success in Iraq.
If things keep up at this rate Obama won’t even mention Iraq come October.
Good news for America and Iraq, is bad news for the libs.
Great tag-line!
Tribute to a Fine American Ambassador [Michael Ledeen]
From everything I’ve heard and read, Ryan Crocker is a hell of an ambassador, and I’m reinforced in this view by the testimony of an Iraqi (Sunni) medical doctor in Baghdad on Michael Yon’s invaluable blog. You just can’t be well informed about the war without reading the milblogs, and Michael is absolutely unique because of the many years he has sent as an embedded reporter.
The doctor’s remarks also underline the wisdom of Fouad Ajami, who reminds us that the United States is the last best hope for the Muslim world. It is not, as some used to argue, that we need to deal with the Islamic extremists (whether the Iranians or the individual terrorist groups); we need to defeat them and bring the reasonable Muslims into the civilized world. Yes, it sounds utopian, but much less utopian than believing that the jihadis are going to get reasonable. Who was it? I think Swift, who said that you can’t reason a man out of something that we wasn’t reasoned into in the first place. Our guys are like that cardiologist in Baghdad. Or the Iraqis who sat down in Copenhagen a week ago to lay the groundwork for a civil society.
03/01 03:53 PM
The Iraqi Parliament has more achieved in a short time then the idiots in the House and Senate in Washington
Indeed it is
The left and the MSM will completely ignore this
We have to stop letting the MSM dictate what we talk about in this country. They really don't want this to be the top story--much better to lie about "questions" about McCain's eligibility to be president (shoulda thought of that before you endorsed him, don't ya think, NYT?).
Iraq is such an important issue that it doesn't matter that we get bored with hearing about it. Its success or failure is going to have a huge impact on this century, and America's part in it.
Network Anchors Powwow
WILLIAMS: I agree, we’d look stupid if we continue to call it a civil war. How about referring to “civil strife” instead?
COURIC: Works for me. Frame every violent incident in Iraq as a sign of a broken society, tie it all in to the Bush-Cheney invasion.
GIBSON: Problem is, there’s more good news than bad news now. So, let’s remember the basic principle I mistakenly uttered publicly some months back: good news is not news.
WILLIAMS: Right. Our job is to report only the news out of Iraq—and here at home, too—that keeps Bush’s and the GOP’s numbers down. There is no higher calling for a journalist.
COURIC: On the war front, CBS is doing its part. Our stringers in Iraq are AQ vetted.
GIBSON: At ABC, we’ve made it an art to find disgruntled generals who’ll dump on Bush because they weren’t listened to.
WILLIAMS: NBC has a solid working relationship with al Jazeera, and...hold on. [Takes a call]. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. I will, sir. Allah Akbar, sir. [Hangs up] That was Osama. He wants us to know he appreciates our efforts
Ironically and unfortunately, any significant success in Iraq will motivate Obama to surrender RIGHT NOW.
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We took a great gamble there. It’s good to hear more news that Iraqis aregetting on with the business at hand. Also seems that we are now killing the fanatics at a faster than they are being replaced by our “allies” in Saudi Arabia.
Ironically and unfortunately, any significant success in Iraq will motivate Obama to surrender RIGHT NOW.
::::::
And where on a scale of 1 to 10, does that put Osama Obama on the American patriotism, pro-military, pro-democracy scale??? (stupid question, I know)
Gee whiz, maybe the Iraqi Parliament is a better deliberative body and vessel for democracy than our own Demagogues’ Congress!!!
Well we won any way.
I know they hate that.
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