What he said

I don't know why, but I was listening to NPR yesterday for the first time in years.  Talk about gloomy!  If you'd been listening to NPR and reading the NYT for the last few years, then you can be forgiven for your pessimism (but not for your choice of news sources).  Read this:

The chattering class nostrum that Free Iraq and its coalition allies have "lost the Iraq war" is so blatantly wrong it would be a source of laughter were human life and hope-inspiring liberty not at such terrible risk.

In terms of fundamental historical changes favoring 21st century freedom and peace, what Free Iraq and its Coalition allies have accomplished in four short years is nothing short of astonishing....

In January 2003, I argued that toppling Saddam's tyranny in Iraq would do two things: begin the process of fostering political choice (democracy) in the Middle East and bring al-Qaida onto a battlefield not of its choosing. Moreover, that battlefield would be largely manned by Muslim allies, exposing the great fractures within Islam and the Middle East that al-Qaida's strategists tried to mask by portraying America as "the enemy."

Credit the Iraqi people with taking the opportunity by conducting three honest, open, democratic elections. In May 2006, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki formed a democratically elected, consensus-seeking government not simply in Mesopotamia but in the heart of the politically dysfunctional Middle East.

That's an astonishing achievement...

Unable to defeat coalition soldiers or dim liberty's appeal, Zarqawi and his terror clique chose Iraqi civilians as their target. They concluded that an Islamic sectarian war between Shia and Sunni was the only way al-Qaida would avoid defeat. That might entail temporarily placing a secular Saddam-type tyrant in power -- hence the short-term cooperation with thugs from the former regime. Al-Qaida and the Saddamists bet their bombs would break the Iraqi people. That has not happened. They know their resiliency is a stinging rebuke of terror and tyranny.

Targeting the vulnerable is the same tactic the Ku Klux Klan used to enforce segregation in America's South. The Klan burned African-American churches instead of mosques, but the Klan, al-Qaida and Saddamist fascists target a population with similar technique and tyrannical viciousness.

Most of us are glad the FBI didn't pull out of Mississippi and Alabama in 1963. The analogy isn't direct -- Baghdad isn't Birmingham. However, the goal of ending the oppressive destruction of lives is both comparable and noble.

The Iraqi people are earning their victory and their liberty. The price for both is inevitably paid in blood, sweat and toil. At this point in history, they need American patience.

Exactly.

Comments

[MikeInSeattle]

Peter, hearty congratulations on taking your first steps in Republican Rehab. We all know it's hard to hear actual facts rather than stories designed to tell you what you want to hear but be strong and soon you will be back to living a fact-based life again.

Now, if you want to speed your progress, go back to the archives and read stories from two, or three, or four or more years back. See who was right and who was wrong in that 20/20 hindsight.

I won't tell you what you'll find. We can leave that as your own journey of self discovery and soon you too can leave truthiness for truth.

[pedro]

Ever read any military history?

[MikeInSeattle]

Yes. Shame that George didn't. I guess "My Pet Goat" didn't deal with it.