Sunday, November 11, 2007
The BBC opens its eyes
The BBC -- yes, the BBC -- is starting to wonder whether we are turning the corner in Iraq. Read the whole thing, which strikes me as a reasonably balanced presentation of the state of affairs. Teaser:
Over the past three months, there has been a sharp and sustained drop in all forms of violence. The figures for dead and wounded, military and civilian, have also greatly improved.
All across Baghdad, which has seen the worst of the violence, streets are springing back to life. Shops and restaurants which closed down are back in business.
People walk in crowded streets in the evening, when just a few months ago they would have been huddled behind locked doors in their homes.
Everybody agrees that things are much better.
But is the improvement only skin deep? And will it last once the American troops, whose "surge" has clearly made a difference, begin to scale down?
In the past few days, two events have underlined big changes that have happened in recent months on both the Sunni and Shia sides of the Iraqi equation.
Reign of terror
On Thursday, in a crowded public hall in the mainly Shia city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, the local police chief, Brig-Gen Ra'id Shaker Jawdat, bitterly denounced the Mehdi Army militia, accusing it of presiding over a four-year reign of terror there.
It was an extraordinary occasion. One by one, men and women stood up and screamed abuse at the militia, blaming it for killing and torturing their loved ones.
It could not have happened a few months ago, when the Mehdi Army - the military wing of the movement headed by the militant young Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr - was the real power in the streets of Karbala.
A few days later, Moqtada Sadr ordered his followers to halt all forms of military action nationwide, even in self-defence.
The rest of the article talks about the effectiveness of American counterinsurgency tactics and the very real risk that it will all unravel if we start withdrawing too soon. For my thoughts on the subject, written as the surge was rolling out about four months ago, click here.
4 Comments:
By 
, at
Sun Nov 11, 01:37:00 PM:
Most of the MSM that I have seen commenting on these developments usually intimate that it is occurring in spite of the surge, not because of it. A lot of people have a huge investment in the Iraq project failing. If by some miracle the country were to stabilize, it will be interesting to see how the Democrats will claim credit for it.
By 
SR, at
Sun Nov 11, 03:53:00 PM:
Nah. they'll just say that it is meaningless and wasn't worth the cost.
By Purple Avenger, at
Sun Nov 11, 09:27:00 PM:
Then we would suggest the democrats go reread JFK's inaugural address.
By Miss Ladybug, at
Sun Nov 11, 10:59:00 PM:
Someone submitted it as a news item for The Victory Caucus. After reading it, I decided to not only publish the link, but to make it a highlighted item...
