As The Democrats Turn Tail, Positive Signs In Baghdad
Mohammed of Iraq the Model reports the good news:
Since the multiple bombings in Shroja market district on the 12th, Baghdad hasn’t seen any major attacks and there’s a tangible decrease in all kinds of attacks.Not only official statements say so (Defense ministry officials said today that attacks are down by 80% in Baghdad). It’s a reality I live in nowadays, at least in my neighborhood and its surroundings. It is also what I hear from friends and relatives in other parts of the city.
We are hearing fewer explosions and less gunfire now than two weeks ago and that, in Baghdad, qualifies as quiet.I agree with what some experts say about this lull in violence being the result of militants keeping their heads down for a while. It is also possibly the result of the flight of the commanders of militant groups. Grunts left without planners, money or leaders wouldn’t want to do much on their own.During my tour in Baghdad today I had to pull over to be searched at several checkpoints — something that has rarely happened to me before. When you are searched soldiers or policemen check the identity cards of passengers, and the registration papers of the vehicle along with a thorough physical search. Checkpoints deal even more strictly with large vans and cargo trucks.The interesting thing about new checkpoints is the constant shifting of their location. One hour the checkpoint would be here and two hours later it would relocate to another position within the area. I think this helps security forces avoid becoming targets instead of hunters.
In addition to soldiers and policemen, most checkpoints have one or more traffic policemen reportedly being equipped with laptops that enable them to flag suspected vehicles by offering instant access to vehicle-registration databases.Side by side with new security efforts is a campaign to clean and redecorate many streets, circles and parks in Baghdad. New trees are planted and damaged street medians and sidewalks are being refurbished. This offers a small yet much needed breeze of hope and normalcy to the traumatized city.
The most significant and encouraging development is certainly this report from al-Sabah:
Brigadier Qasim Ata, an authorized Baghdad Operation spokesman, told al-Sabah that for the 3rd day in a row dozens of displaced families are returning to their homes. 35 families returned in Madain, 7 in hay al-I’ilam and small numbers of families in various districts of Baghdad.
Later reports in the local media indicate that the total number of families that returned home is as high as 130 families across the city, including several families in the, until recently, hopelessly violent district of Hay al-Adl.
The report adds that Maliki ordered that the Bab al-Muadam and al-Shuhada bridges on the Tigris be reopened to traffic next week. This decision came in response to the “notable increase in traffic activity which in turn is a result of the growing feeling of safety”.
Confirming what we said earlier about the recovery of civilian activity, the spokesman said “most stores in the Alawi al-Hilla districts have reopened after times when this area was a scene for repeated terrorist attacks”.
Now, why is life returning to normal for thousands of Iraqis? Because the militants are lying low as the American and Iraqi troop presence beefs up.
What would the effect of the anti-surge plan of John Murtha (the “Slow Bleed Path To Defeat”) be? To draw down these troop levels, the same troops levels that are having such a beneficial effect on the safety and security of Baghdad.
Attacks down 80%…people returning to their homes by the hundreds…and yet Mohammed sounds a cautionary note:
The progress made so far invites hope and optimism, but it’s still too early to celebrate. Terrorists will keep trying to carry out attacks similar to those in Sadriya or Shorja. They want sow as much death and destruction as they can in order to shake the people’s confidence in the security plan. Such criminals attacks are still quite possible in Baghdad, but even if happen we must not let that stop us from pursuing the objectives of our efforts to stop the death and deterioration, to turn the tide and make progress.
Amen to that…Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, Harry Reid: give Baghdad a chance. Don’t kill what little hope remains. If the surge fails, it fails, but don’t pull the plug on the Iraqi people prematurely…particularly when the initial signs are so positive…
UPDATE 02/18/07 12:32 p.m.: Alas, there’s still a ways to go:
Two suicide bombers detonated explosives in a busy market in central Baghdad Sunday, killing more than 55 people and undermining Iraqi officials’ claim that the Baghdad security plan is off to a “fabulous” start.
The bomb exploded in quick succession at approximately 3:30 p.m. in a busy commercial area in the New Baghdad neighborhood, sending a thick plume of smoke that darkened an otherwise splendid day in the capital.
It is the first large bombing since the security plan was launched on Wednesday.
American and Iraqi soldiers dashed to the scene and cordoned it off as dozens of injured people were taken to hospitals.
The Associated Press reported that at least 56 were killed and 127 injured, and attributed the information to police and other emergency response personnel. Iraqi security officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The bombing comes a day after Iraqi officials lauded what they described as the prompt results of stiffened security measures taken earlier this week. On Saturday, the commander of the security plan held a press conference to announce what he said was an 85 percent drop in attacks since the new measures went into effect.
In addition, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki suggested Friday that a lull in violence was a promising sign that the security plan was off to a good start. In a telephone conversation he assured President Bush that the plan “has achieved fabulous success,” officials in the prime minister’s office reported.
U.S. officials have cautioned that a drastic drop in violence as the security plan gets off the ground is unlikely.
Indeed – well, what can you do? Pull on you chinstraps and keep plugging, that’s all that can be done…
The plea to Pelosi, Murtha & Reid to give Bagdad a chance makes a lot of sense, however the trio are owned lock stock & barrel by the radical left. “it won’t happen”.
They feel, and justifiably so that their political success depends on American failure. That is so shocking, that it is unbelievable.
They take comfort that a war hero like Murtha is out front with them. They loose site of the fact that Benedict Arnold was a war hero.
The American people silently watch, and digest the goings on, and they remember our history about Benedict Arnold.
Life returning to normal?
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/18/iraq.main/index.html
Mark: when Zarqawi died, you posted that it was a new day in Iraq, and things proceeded to get much worse. Similar predictions have failed to materialize at other seemingly hopeful events in Iraq. This is not to gloat or say I-told-you-so — it is merely to suggest that it might be wise to hold the applause.
The fact is that events in Iraq have a momentum which we are unable to stop, regardless of what we do. To admit that we have unleashed a situation which has spun out of control and is likely to continue for a generation or more is an acceptance of what the situation is, as well as the first step to determining how to proceed from here. Republicans call this view defeatist to distract attention from their complicity in this mess, but the fact remains that we are well past the point where we can effect any kind of victory, no matter how you define victory. The administration’s fantasy of a democratic Iraq as the beacon in the Middle East just ain’t gonna happen: there is no line between that and where we are now. Pointing to two or three days’ relative calm as justification for more of the same ignores how bad things really are in Iraq.
Why, it sounds like we’ve turned a corner. I assume that means we’ll catch another al-Qaeda #2 in a few days.
No, jpe, it just means there are some positive signs. And indeed, negative ones, as well – I just updated the post. Unfortunately, another big car bomb explosion killed dozens. It’s an ongoing struggle, but that doesn’t mean we just throw our hands up and quit…
Will there be a point at which we quit? At this point I think a wise decision is to pull out and try something else. But at what point do the die-hard supporters (viz, you) think a redeployment should be considered?
If the surge doesn’t show results, I think we will be forced to quit, for better or worse – it’s hard enough, as we see, to pull this off, and I don’t think the political environment will support much beyond this.
In a world divorced from domestic politics, I think we should be prepared to be in Iraq for years to come (not forever, but maybe through the end of this decade)…but that’s not the world we live in…
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