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Oops… Maybe We CAN Win, After All… (Part II)

Continuing last night’s conversation with regards to “whoops, maybe we can win in Iraq, after all ” [1]comes Hewitt [2] with an interview with John Burns, he of the house organ of the democratic party, otherwise known as the New York Times.

JB: I think there’s no doubt that those extra 30,000 American troops are making a difference. They’re definitely making a difference in Baghdad. Some of the crucial indicators of the war, metrics as the American command calls them, have moved in a positive direction from the American, and dare I say the Iraqi point of view, fewer car bombs, fewer bombs in general, lower levels of civilian casualties, quite remarkably lower levels of civilian casualties. And add in what they call the Baghdad belts, that’s to say the approaches to Baghdad, particularly in Diyala Province to the northeast, to in the area south of Baghdad in Babil Province, and to the west of Baghdad in Anbar Province, there’s no doubt that al Qaeda has taken something of a beating.

HH: Now when General Petraeus returns in September to make his report, do you expect Petraeus to be completely candid with the American people about the good news and the bad news in Iraq?

JB: I think there’s no doubt that he’ll be candid. As a matter of fact, every time I’ve spoken to him about it, he talks about the need to be forthright, and as he puts it, he said we’re not going to be putting lipstick on a pig. I think that’s a fairly, that’s military jargon which most Americans will understand. David Petraeus is a man who’s had a remarkably distinguished military career, and he is very clear that he thinks his responsibilities lie not to the White House alone, but to the White House and the Congress conjointly, and through them to the American people. I don’t think that this is just a profession, a claim. I think he really intends that, and he’s been very careful not to make commitments at the moment as to what he’s going to say, though we may guess it. And I think he’s going to say that the surge is having its effects, it hasn’t turned the tide of the war, there’s been too little time for it, and I think he and Ambassador Crocker, who will be his partner in that September report, are going to say one thing very clearly, and that is a quick, early withdrawal of American troops of the kind that is being argued by Nancy Pelosi, for example, would very likely lead to catastrophic levels of violence here. And in that, General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will be saying something which is pretty broadly shared by people who live and work here, I have to say. The removal of American troops would very likely, we believe from all indications, lead to much higher, and indeed potentially cataclysmic levels of violence, beyond anything we’ve seen to date.

The timing of all of this coming from the usual leftist outlets, smacks to me of a coordinated effort.  To my mind, that goes directly to the point that I made yesterday, that the left is now seeking an escape route from the political games it has been playing with this war since about a month after the invasion started. Seeking it desperately, in fact… the way someone inside a burning building seeks the exit.  Within the last few weeks, there is a recognition on the left that the game they’ve been playing isn’t getting them anywhere politically speaking.  That the “defeat of America at any cost” mantra, is extraordinarily unpopular with the American people.  So it is, that we see this effort to reverse that trend. The house they’ve built, is burning down around them.  This is a clear sign, that they know it.

Don Surber [3] agrees, and quotes James Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina:

“I think there would be enough support in that group to want to stay the course and if the Republicans were to stay united as they have been, then it would be a problem for us. We, by and large, would be wise to wait on the report.”

Wait a second here: Who is the enemy to Clyburn? The Republican Party or al-Qaeda?

I think that was established a long time ago, Don.

Addendum:

When even Keith Ellison is saying ‘progress is being made’ [4]…. Oh, wait. He’s just a dupe of the Bush administration, right?