THERE'S BEEN a relative lull in news coverage and debate about Iraq in recent weeks -- which is odd, because May could turn out to have been one of the most important months of the war. While Washington's attention has been fixed elsewhere, military analysts have watched with astonishment as the Iraqi government and army have gained control for the first time of the port city of Basra and the sprawling Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, routing the Shiite militias that have ruled them for years and sending key militants scurrying to Iran. At the same time, Iraqi and U.S. forces have pushed forward with a long-promised offensive in Mosul, the last urban refuge of al-Qaeda. So many of its leaders have now been captured or killed that U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, renowned for his cautious assessments, said that the terrorists have "never been closer to defeat than they are now."Read the whole thing here.
Lets see now. Bush is winning the war in Iraq and the elected government there is taking charge. Al Qaeda is disintegrating [here]. The incidence of terrorism all around the world is declining rapidly. There have been no terrorist attacks on America since 9/11 and attacks on American interests overseas have virtually disappeared in recent months. Pro-American governments have been elected in France, Germany, and Italy. New security alliances have been forged in Asia. Aid to Africa has reached its highest levels ever. Were it not for raging Bush Derangement Syndrome, that would count as a spectacularly successful foreign policy.
Well, wouldn't it?
UPDATE:
Even the French understand what is happening in Iraq and are trying to get a piece of the action, [here] but success is the word the Democrats dare not utter. They either, like Senator Obama, are in full denial, or they, like Rep. Pelosi, are trying to shift the credit away from Bush, or like most of the MSM they are simply ignoring what is happening.
The overthrow of two of the world's most brutal and repressive dictatorships and the liberation of fifty million people is a not inconsiderable achievement. Dubya deserves full credit for his accomplishments.
UPDATE:
Dean Barnett notes that the refusal of Democrats and people in academia and the MSM to grant Bush full credit for his accomplishments is reminiscent of their reaction to Ronald Reagan [here].
UPDATE:
The Telegraph reports:
In the past two years an estimated 7,000 Taliban have been killed, the majority in southern and eastern Afghanistan. But it is the "very effective targeted decapitation operations" that have removed "several echelons of commanders".
This in turn has left the insurgents on the brink of defeat, the head of Task Force Helmand said.
"The Taliban are much weaker," he said from 16 Air Assault Brigade headquarters in Lashkar Gah.
"The tide is clearly ebbing not flowing for them. Their chain of command is disrupted and they are short of weapons and ammunition."
....
"We have seen increasing fissures of stress through the whole organisation that has led to internecine and fratricidal strife between competing groups."
Taliban fighters are apparently becoming increasingly unpopular in Helmand, where they are reliant on the local population for food and water.
....
"I can therefore judge the Taliban insurgency a failure at the moment," said Brig Carleton-Smith. "We have reached the tipping point."
Read the whole thing here.
