David Petraeus wrote the manual on counter-insurgency strategy, or at least
edited it, and now his troops are following it with encouraging and
impressive results. (If only our old ally, Iraq's Shi'a-dominated
government, were as cooperative as our new Sunni friends.)
Not just Americans in uniform but those in the Foreign Service are making
the Surge work. FSOs (Foreign Service Officers) are spreading throughout the
country to cement local alliances and set up joint reconstruction projects.
Don't be misled by that disgraceful show at Foggy Bottom the other day, when
some of the louder mouths in our diplomatic corps objected - vociferously,
shamefully - to being assigned to Iraq.
Meanwhile, their counterparts already in Iraq are making friends and
influencing sheiks. Even in Washington, the number of American diplomats
volunteering for Iraq has shot up, making it unnecessary to order them to go
there.
The news is encouraging not just on the military front: Tens of thousands of
Iraqis are returning to their country as security improves. The flow of
refugees is reversing as hopes of normalcy begin to return. This long, long
struggle may be turning around. What ever happened to all that talk about a
civil war about to erupt?
But just as in Vietnam 40 years ago, this war could be lost at home.
Democratic leaders of both the House and Senate are holding up some $50
billion for the armed forces unless the president agrees to start
withdrawing some troops from Iraq immediately and all of them from combat by
the end of next year. That's not an exit strategy; it's just an exit. But
what great good news for the enemy: Just hold out that long and the
Americans won't be a problem.
If the president (and commander-in-chief of the armed forces) vetoes the
bill requiring him to reduce troop levels, says Harry Reid, the Democratic
majority leader in the Senate, "then the president won't get his $50
billion." And neither will the troops. Nancy Pelosi made much the same
threat earlier in a Democratic caucus.
However encouraging the news from Iraq, the news from Washington grows ever
grimmer. Divided we fall.