Thursday, April 24, 2008
Reconciliation watch: The Sunnis come home
"This is a failure. This is a failure." -- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on February 10, 2008, about the "surge" in Iraq, because there had been no political reconciliation.
Today:
Iraq’s largest Sunni bloc has agreed to return to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s cabinet after a boycott that lasted nearly a year, several Sunni leaders said on Thursday, citing a recently passed amnesty law and the Maliki government’s crackdown on Shiite militias as reasons for the move.
The Sunni leaders said they were still working out the details of their return, an indication that the deal could still fall through. But such a return would represent a major political victory for Mr. Maliki in the midst of a military operation that has at times been criticized as poorly planned and fraught with risk. The principal group his security forces have been confronting is the Mahdi Army, a powerful militia led by Moktada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric. Even though Mr. Maliki’s American-backed offensive against elements of the Mahdi Army has frequently stalled and has led to bitter complaints of civilian casualties, the Sunni leaders said that the government had done enough to address their concerns that they had decided to end their boycott.
“Our conditions were very clear, and the government achieved some of them,” said Adnan al-Duleimi, the head of Tawafiq, the largest Sunni bloc in the government. Mr. Duleimi said the achievements included “the general amnesty, chasing down the militias and disbanding them and curbing the outlaws.”
If this were a just world with poetic dining options, Nancy Pelosi would dine on crow au vin at the Palm tonight.
It must be tough being Nancy Pelosi, Carl Levin, Harry Reid, or any of the others who have staked their credibility, such as it is, on the inevitability of American failure.
MORE: Ace links to a Times of London article that concedes that the government of Iraq scored a "stunning" victory in Basra. He also mentions the remarks of the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, the implications of which we discussed last weekend.
4 Comments:
By 
, at
Thu Apr 24, 09:18:00 PM:
Hold the alum please....I think they are already puckering enough!
By 
Escort81, at
Thu Apr 24, 10:29:00 PM:
It must be tough being Nancy Pelosi, Carl Levin, Harry Reid, or any of the others who have staked their credibility, such as it is, on the inevitability of American failure.
What credibility? Do even the Huffpo or Daily Kos people listen to anything that trio says? They might agree that the surge is a failure, but not because of anything Pelosi says.
I don't think leadership on the Hill (by either party, frankly) has been anything more than below average over the last decade.
By , at
Fri Apr 25, 02:33:00 AM:
But of course, their constructive criticism was the key to the success. Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid were playing a key part in bringing pressure for reconciliation.
NOT!!!!
-David
By , at
Fri Apr 25, 06:47:00 PM:
Unbelievable the damage that's been done. One of the lawyers in my office is an ex-military pilot and a seemingly sane person, yet he always refers to the "last seven years" as being disastrous.
I've had problems with Bush, as I would any president, but the catechism is that Bush was a disaster.
Here, at the end of his presidency, we're receiving news of victory in Iraq.
Oh, that we had a less biased press!
