Michael Yon with a new update today:
Here’s a news flash for Osama bin Laden, who earlier today released a call ” to guerrilla forces in Mesopotamia.“
I have directly observed how more and more Iraqis have grown to hate
al Qaeda as much as Americans do. Al Qaeda has lost all credibility
there, both from a religious standpoint as well as strategically. Even
Western media seems to be gradually awakening to the realization that
al Qaeda press releases on the topic of Iraq are about as well-informed
as the post-invasion rantings of Baghdad Bob. (Everytime
Osama bin Laden talks of crushing the infidel, I can’t help but think
of Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf pointing vigorously skyward and practically
spitting at the reporters: “We are crushing the American army as we speak!”)Al Qaeda terrorists can continue to murder Iraqis and Americans at
the behest of Osama, but their tactics will only backfire. Osama will
no more own Iraq than he will own America. His is a lost cause. Not
because of decisive military defeats, (although these have helped) but
because decent Iraqi people from all quarters, sects and regions of
Iraq have had enough of his people cutting off heads of children.
And Michelle Malkin wonders why our success over the last year is not THE story of the year:
There should be no question what the top
story of the year was: America’s counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq,
the Democrats’ hapless efforts to sabotage it, and the Western
mainstream media’s stubborn refusal to own up to military progress.What happened in January defined the rest of the year. We rang in 2007
with vehement liberal opposition to the “surge” of 21,000 added U.S.
troops and tactical changes to secure Baghdad. In the ensuing 12
months, Democrats tried and failed repeatedly to undermine this
military strategy and starve the war of funding. Their poisonously
partisan allies at MoveOn.org attempted to smear surge architect and
patriot Gen. David Petraeus as a traitor. The New York Times
and Associated Press fought tooth and nail to obscure the successes of
the surge with their relentless “grim milestone” drumbeat. But by
year’s end, with Shiites and Sunnis marching and praying together for
peace, even anti-war Democrats and adversarial media outlets alike were
forced to acknowledge that undeniable military progress and security
improvements had been made.~~~When the Senate Foreign Relation Committee’s
resolution opposing the surge passed 12-9 on Jan. 24, Sen. Joseph Biden
(D., Del.), the panel’s chairman, disingenuously claimed it was “not an
attempt to embarrass the president.” Bull. That’s what the Democrats
have been trying to do all year. Biden argued: The measure “is designed
to let the president know that there are many in both parties,
Democrats and Republicans, that believe a change in our mission to go
into Baghdad — in the midst of a civil war — as well as a surge in
ground troops . . . is the wrong way to go, and I believe it will have
the opposite — I repeat –opposite effect the president intends.”~~~
Wrong-way Biden insisted the anti-surge resolution wasn’t meant to
embarrass the president. Opponents of the Baghdad mission insisted they
didn’t want America to fail. But let’s not forget where the Democrats
came from in January — and where the party leadership remains. A Fox
News poll in mid-January revealed that a disturbing 49 percent of
Democrats either wanted us to lose in Iraq or “didn’t know” if they
wanted us to succeed. All but two Democrats voted in the House to
oppose the surge. As our troops succeeded, these surge critics went
from arguing against the strategy to arguing whether violence dropped
in Baghdad to arguing about why that decrease occurred.
And now what do they talk about on Iraq? Nothing, nada, zip. It’s left the radar screen. The MSM and Democrat politicians would lead every speech, every telecast, with stories on everything that is wrong in Iraq. Now, they ignore it. And nothing proves this more then the fact that magazines and newspapers across the country are naming everything under the sun as the “story of the year” except the one story that deserves it most.
Our success in Iraq, and the men & women who made that possible.
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