Free Republic

Can any representative republic survive a progressively ignorant electorate? Can freedom be sustained in any society hell-bent upon taxing its productive members out of existence, for benefit of its non-productive? Can people unable to successfully govern their own lives be entrusted with the power to govern others? Not to be unkind, but we need to face facts here. So long as a republic represents the will of the brave, it will remain the home of the free. When it’s run by the productive members of society, it will remain prosperous. When it’s governed by the independent minded, it will not...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2007 – The commander of coalition forces in Iraq said he won’t “pull any punches” in the Iraqi benchmark report due to Congress by Sept. 15. The report will reflect both tactical progress being made in Iraq and areas that still need work, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, said yesterday on Fox News Radio’s “Alan Colmes Show.” “I have vowed that I will provide a forthright and comprehensive assessment,” he said during an interview from Baghdad. President Bush has said he’ll rely heavily on the report by Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to...

Bush Poll Numbers Rise With Progress Reports From Iraq Thursday , August 09, 2007 AP WASHINGTON — Even some critics of President Bush's Iraq war policies are conceding there is evidence of recent improvements from a military standpoint. But Bush supporters and critics alike agree that these have not been matched by any noticeable progress on the political front. Despite U.S. pressure, Iraq's parliament went on vacation for a month after failing to pass either legislation to share the nation's oil wealth or to reconcile differences among the factions. And nearly all Sunni representatives in the government have quit, undermining...

It's certainly premature to make any hard and fast predictions at this point, but could it be that the tide of war in Iraq is turning in favor of the U.S. and the Iraqi military and that the nightmare that the left and the Democrats have been dreading --- defeat of the insurgents and terrorists --- is about to be visited on them? As observed by William Kristol in the Weekly Standard and Michael Barone in the political website Realclearpolitics.com, some recent developments seem to point to a positive turn in the war for the U.S. and the Bush administration....

WASHINGTON - Even some critics of President Bush's Iraq war policies are conceding there is evidence of recent improvements from a military standpoint. But Bush supporters and critics alike agree that these have not been matched by any noticeable progress on the political front. Despite U.S. pressure, Iraq's parliament went on vacation for a month after failing to pass either legislation to share the nation's oil wealth or to reconcile differences among the factions. And nearly all Sunni representatives in the government have quit, undermining the legitimacy of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite. Still, there have been signs of...

Critics of the U.S. troop "surge" in Iraq, called for by President George Bush in January, early on cited American losses and then announced the plan's failure. Supporters, on the other hand, have seen progress from new tactics (which, many argue, should have been adopted far earlier). Such wide disagreement over a military campaign in progress is not that unusual. Sixty years after World War II, historians, even with the benefits of hindsight, still argue over the cost-benefit ratios and strategic results of diverse battles from Operation Market Garden to Okinawa. The U.S. military reports that the surge in Iraq...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 2007 – Coalition and Iraqi security forces captured or killed 18 senior al Qaeda members in July, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said today. Of the 18, six were terrorist unit commanders known as “senior emirs,” and seven were either foreign fighters or weapons distributors. Troops detained or killed three cell leaders and two members who manned an al Qaeda media operation, Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner told online journalists and “bloggers” during a conference call. “There has been some tactical momentum achieved in July and into the first week now of August,” he said. “And...

So shocked is CNN anchor John Roberts that he repeats the question — twice — to make sure he’s understood him correctly. Kudos to Roberts too for calling him on the goalpost-shifting here. Faced with the undeniable fact of the Anbar awakening (well, almost undeniable), the Democrats have subtly shifted from Reid’s and Pelosi’s and Edwards’s line that the surge has failed to the more nuanced (and more accurate) line that the political process has failed. Entirely true and entirely undisputed, from leftist bete noires O’Hanlon and Pollack on down to warmongering wingnut embed bloggers. More on that in a...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2007 – Joint Defense and State Department provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq are guiding Iraqis through the intricacies of forming local governments and generating economic development, a U.S. State Department official said. “The basic goal of these teams is to expand out into the provinces,” U.S. Embassy spokesman Philip Reeker told online journalists and “bloggers” Aug. 3 from Baghdad. “Iraq is not a small country, and it has no tradition, really, of local or diffused leadership or governance. It’s been very centralized.” Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship quashed local governments in the country’s 18 regions, Reeker said. The...

EDMONTON (CP) - Canada's soldiers in Afghanistan are making real, measurable improvements in the lives of people in Kandahar province, says the former commander of those troops. And while the Taliban are likely to continue harassing both soldiers and civilians with "terrorist tactics," Maj.-Gen. Tim Grant believes Afghan security forces have made significant strides toward looking after themselves. "We went from last year, when there was drought and people were starving, to this year, where it's bumper crops and people are moving back into their homes and really getting on with their lives," said Grant, who returned to Edmonton on...

Yesterday, I received a press release from Baghdad. It told a story unlike any I have read. It told a story you will not hear on the evening news. It told a story of eighty Iraqi civilians who acted to take their neighborhood mosque back from terrorist elements. Six months ago, these people were living in fear. But, today with an increased Coalition presence in their community, the people of the Maghrib neighborhood on the east side of Baghdad went after the thugs who had been controlling their lives for so long. It all started on Sunday afternoon, August 5th,...

It's not often that an opinion article shakes up Washington and changes the way a major issue is viewed. But that happened last week, when The New York Times printed an opinion article by Brookings Institution analysts Michael O'Hanlon and Ken Pollack on the progress of the surge strategy in Iraq. Yes, progress. O'Hanlon and Pollack supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003 -- Pollack even wrote a book urging the overthrow of Saddam Hussein -- but they have sharply criticized military operations there in the ensuing years. "As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration's miserable handling...

The new U.S. military strategy in Iraq, unveiled six months ago to little acclaim, is working. In two weeks of observing the U.S. military on the ground and interviewing commanders, strategists and intelligence officers, it's apparent that the war has entered a new phase in its fifth year. It is a phase with fresh promise yet the same old worry: Iraq may be too fractured to make whole. No matter how well or how long the U.S. military carries out its counterinsurgency mission, it cannot guarantee victory. Only the Iraqis can. And to do so they probably need many more...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today on the Sunday morning talk shows that he’s seeing signs the troop surge in Baghdad is helping stabilize security so the Iraqi government can focus on overcoming sectarian divisions and building critical government institutions. Gates reported on CNN’s “Late Edition” and NBC’s “Meet the Press” the security situation is improving, but expressed frustration that political progress being seen at the local and provincial level isn’t being matched nationally. “I think the effort under way to dampen the violence, particularly that caused by the Baathists and by al Qaeda,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2007 – Stabilizing Iraqi communities is the way forward in combating the insurgency in Iraq, the commander of coalition efforts in Ramadi said today. (Video) Speaking to Pentagon reporters via teleconference from Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s Anbar province, Army Col. John Charlton, commander of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, said counterinsurgencies are fought and won “neighborhood by neighborhood, with the focus on protecting the population and improving conditions in the community.” Charlton commands a true joint and combined force in central Anbar province. His brigade combat team consists of about 6,000 Army, Marine,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2007 – The Afghan National Army is developing into a professional force, and its soldiers have the will to fight and, if need be, die for their country, the top enlisted leader in U.S. Central Command said. Marine Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey A. Morin, senior enlisted leader for U.S. Central Command, said during an interview Aug. 1 that he has been impressed with the Afghan National Army and its nascent noncommissioned officer corps. The 39,000 members of the Afghan National Army are a group of soldiers with an extreme will to fight, Morin said. “They are developing nationalism;...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2007 – The military surge of additional troops into Iraq seems to be working, U.S. Central Command’s top enlisted leader said. “The surge was brought in to create a time span where the Iraqi forces and Iraqi government could go ahead and get some momentum going,” Marine Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey A. Morin, the senior enlisted leader for U.S. Central Command, said during an interview Aug. 1. Morin is the “eyes and ears” of Central Command’s chief, Navy Adm. William J. Fallon. Since taking office in March, the sergeant major has been to Iraq four times. He...

BAGHDAD — Military officials discussed current efforts in Iraq at the Combined Press Information Center Wednesday. U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesman; Paul Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of defense for business transformation, and Philip Reeker, counselor for public affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, discussed economic and political efforts underway to assist the government of Iraq. Bergner opened the conference by talking about the building “tactical momentum” in the sixth week of the surge. Operations from Iraqi and Coalition forces made progress in a number of fronts, he said. “We continue to target the networks and...

BAGHDAD — As Operation Arrowhead Ripper moves along in Diyala, ever so quietly, Operation Rogue Thunder swept through a section of the capital in hopes of ridding the area of anti-Iraqi forces for good. The 3rd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, their Military Transition Team and Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, cleared Al Jamea'a of caches, bombs and insurgents while helping to ramp up security efforts to reclaim the area terrorized and bullied by al-Qaida. The terrorists in the area had been ruthlessly controlling every action of the...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2007 – Ongoing, tangible progress is being made in Iraq across security, economic and political fronts, U.S. officials said in Baghdad today. (Video) Ongoing anti-insurgent operations conducted by U.S. and Iraqi security forces and Iraqi citizens’ growing rejection of insurgent-instigated violence are producing gains against al Qaeda and other extremists, Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. “We are now in the sixth week of the surge in operations, and we’re seeing some tactical momentum,” Bergner said. Operations by Iraqi and U.S. forces “have made...