Iraq updates

Amr Hamzawy of the Carnegie endowment has a nice article in the WaPo on the diversity of opinion on the "Arab street." He makes the terrific point that the western media have all too often relied on self-appointed spokesmen and government controlled sources to gauge Arab opinion. He looks at more authentic forms of expression and finds a quite different, and far more interesting, landscape than that with which we are usually presented.

He writes:

[W]ithin this very wide spectrum [of opinion] a mainstream perception of Iraqi political developments can be discerned that runs counter to the main tide coming from prominent intellectuals and journalists. A clear consensus exists among the majority of commenting readers on the moral and political rightness of the elections and a hopeful attitude toward the democratization of Iraq.

Great article, read it here.


RUMMY'S REBUTTAL:


Don Rumsfeld in the WSJ answers Teddy Kennedy's question of where the Iraqi forces are. He cites a few examples from election day:

Many thousands of Iraqi security personnel are performing exceptionally, and a few examples are worth mentioning. On Election Day, Iraqi security forces stopped a total of eight suicide bombers across Iraq who were hoping to upset the democratic process and kill innocent people. As was widely reported, one Iraqi policeman tackled and drove a suicide bomber back 50 feet from a polling station screaming, "Let me save the people!" before the bomber's belt exploded, killing them both. In the lead-up to the elections, Kirkuk police and the 207th Iraqi Army Battalion raided eight terrorist safe houses, capturing more than 30 extremists. The 205th Iraqi Army Battalion independently planned and executed an operation in the town of Miqdadiyah, capturing six extremists. Three days later, after receiving tips from local citizens, the 205th captured another 70 extremists, a large cache of weapons and bomb-making material.

There's a lot more in the article. Read it here.

Clearly the Iraqi police and military forces are taking an ever more active role in providing security. Kennedy's questions were poorly conceived. He should have acknowledged the dangerous work being done by these brave men and women and their contribution to building a new Iraq, and then gone on to ask how soon they would be able to provide sufficient security to allow significant American troop withdrawals. But, I guess that is more than Senator Kennedy is capable of. I think the Democrats are making a grave error in allowing this guy to be the face they present to the American public.