Iraq: When Will Progress Be Acknowledged As Significant?
by: Richard Land - Jun 21, 2008 - comments: 7
U.S. Army Sgt. Matt Radcliffe, a military policeman from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, gives a high five to a young Iraqi girl while Spc. Martin watches during a patrol through the Thawra 1 neighborhood of Sadr City, Iraq, on June 16, 2008. DoD photo by Tech Sgt. Cohen A. Young, U.S. Air Force. (Released)
Last month 21 U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq, 17 from hostile fire. In May 2007, there were 127 causalities in Iraq. The “surge” is working and bringing with it a measure of military and political success that must be a surprise even to its most ardent proponents.
The surge has given the country the breathing space to begin to do some truly extraordinary things. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the Iraqi Army into Basra where it defeated the Mahdi Army, took the city, and seized the ports from the radicals (something the British Army failed to achieve in four years).
When the Mahdis reacted by starting conflict in other locations, the Iraqi Army routed them in every instance—Najaf, Karbala, Nasiriyah and Diwaniyah. Then the Iraqi Army entered and occupied Sadr City, the Mahdi Army’s stronghold in Baghdad.
The determination and success of the Iraqi Army underscores the fact that 12 uniformed Iraqis (soldiers and police) have been killed defending their country from the death cult seeking to impose a Taliban-type regime on their society for every non-Iraqi coalition solider that has died.
On the political front, the Iraqi parliament has passed a pension law and a de-Baathification law (a major U.S. Democrat “benchmark” for political progress). They have also passed an amnesty law, a new budget, and provided for provincial elections before the end of the year.
Oil revenues are being shared among Shiite, Sunni, and Kurd provinces (another major Democrat “benchmark”) and the oil revenues are soaring. Iraqi oil production is at its highest levels since the liberation began five years ago and the soaring price of oil has generated rapidly rising government revenues. Iraq now has an unexpected budget surplus (oil revenues have jumped from an estimated $35 billion to more than $60 billion). Yet the war’s critics seem determined to ignore any signs of progress.
When President Bush addressed our troops in North Carolina, he outlined the conditions for “success in Iraq:” the Iraqi government must be able to protect its own people from attack, govern itself democratically with honest elections, and support itself economically.
My question for the critics of the war is this: What part of significant progress do you not understand?
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7 comments (post your own) feed
1 On Jun 24th, 2008, at 12:25pm, Dwight Hunt wrote:
We have no business in Iraq. One soldier dead it too many.
2 On Jun 24th, 2008, at 4:03pm, Ron Denlinger wrote:
It is fashionable to bash our President.
It is also wrong to blindly support a President because one is of the same political party.
It seems that you are guilty of neither and instead are giving approproiate respect and honor to our President and to our military. You are doing so by telling us the truth (something in short supply, it seems to me).
When will progress be viewed as significant by the critics? Of course this is a rhetorical question. We all know that if it comes, it will likely be long after the fact. Instead, in the present, we might expect very different responses such a changing of the subject, such as “We have no business in Iraq.” That may be a valid point - worth ongoing discussion. And yet, in this context it seems inappropriate. Wouldn’t it be better to first of all acknowledge the progress made? Why would one not read and article like this and interact with the facts presented? Wouldn’t that be a better opener to further conversation?
3 On Jun 25th, 2008, at 6:45pm, Manny wrote:
Somehow I don’t find it surprising that when we put 10,000 of the best-trained and best-equipped soldiers in the world into a limited geographic area, they are able to reduce the level of violence. Unfortunately it is not possible to have real progress in an ill-conceived, poorly managed, misguided attempt to force another country to accept that the our president knows what is best for them. The only progress that will ever be significant in Iraq is when we begin to make progress to bring our troops home. They shouldn’t have been there in the first place and they don’t belong there now.
4 On Jul 2nd, 2008, at 8:55am, Doug wrote:
Dr. Land - Do you really expect us to simply take your word for it that things are “getting better” in Iraq? If so, you are truly disrepecting our intelligence. As an evangelical Christian, it shames me that Christian spokespersons such as yourself have put your stamp of approval on this tragic war. Do you really beleive that the families in Iraq who are living in misery and fear, and the Iraqi and American families who have lost loved ones (for what?) would agree with your sunny assessment? I seriously doubt it!
5 On Jul 2nd, 2008, at 12:28pm, Matt wrote:
RE: Doug, post 4:
No need to take Land’s word for it. I don’t believe he expects you to take his word for it.
He’s just reiterating what is now old news (by a month, at least). Even the Washington Post agrees:
...and one can hardly make the claim that The Post ever put a “stamp of approval on this tragic war.”
Whether you approve or disapprove of the U.S. entry, presence, action, or whatever… the tangible success of American and Iraqi troops over the course of the surge is factually undeniable.
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own fact” - the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan
6 On Jul 5th, 2008, at 9:54pm, Teresa wrote:
RE: Doug
You are wrong if you think the families of the soldiers who gave their lives in Iraq do not see this progress as a great thing. Their loved ones did not die in vain. I live in a military community and every soldier that I have personally talked to who has return from Iraq has been proud that they went and “made a dfference.” They applaud our president for sending us to Iraq and would gladly do it again. So unless you have walked in the shoes of these families, do not speak for them.
7 On Jul 17th, 2008, at 5:55am, Sherrill wrote:
Every active duty soldier I talk to have stories and reports that contradict biased news reports that the United States is not making a positive difference in the war on terrorism. The liberal press has an agenda.