Iraq Seen Turning Corner
In this morning's Washington Times, Rowan Scarborough sounds a theme that you've seen here and else where in the blogosphere over the past few weeks:
In the privacy of their E-ring offices, senior Pentagon officials have begun to entertain thoughts that were unimaginable a year ago: Iraq is turning the corner. Military officials and analysts say the clearing out of enemy-infested Fallujah in November, the Jan. 30 elections and the increasing willingness of Iraqis to fight and die for a democratic country are contributing to the momentum.
While pointing out that the terrorists still have the ability to carry out successful and even spectacular attacks, Pentagon sources note that attacks on coalition forces have dropped steadily since January's elections. And the largely criminal character of the "insurgency" is becoming ever clearer:
A Pentagon official said the more that intelligence agencies analyze the insurgency, the clearer it becomes that a large part is criminal, not nationalistic. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein released tens of thousands of hardened criminals, including murderers, before the March 2003 invasion, meaning that as the ex-convicts are recaptured, insurgent leaders might have an increasingly smaller pool from which to recruit attackers.
Some "Minutemen." THe most important factor, of course, is the increasing commitment of ordinary Iraqis to a free, democratic society:
Iraqis continue to sign up. After an even bloodier attack in January against Iraqis in line to apply for police jobs, a still-longer line formed the next day at the same spot, said a U.S. Army officer in Iraq.
None of this is news to readers of this site and others in the blogosphere. But our success in Iraq, when it is finally acknowledged, will likely be puzzling to many who rely on mainstream media sources and have heard little about the positive developments that have occurred there over the past year.
UPDATE: The indispensable Arthur Chrenkoff has his weekly roundup of good news from Iraq today, also.
