Iraq On Track

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Iraq On Track

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, December 26, 2007 4:20 PM PT
Victory In Iraq: A top al-Qaida strategist killed, a carful of terrorists blasted by a U.S. copter and Democrat presidential hopefuls suddenly clammed up on Iraq. What's next, major political progress in Baghdad? Exactly.
In an announcement the day after Christmas, the U.S. military confirmed that the militant killed with an associate in an operation near the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad, on Nov. 8 was Abu Abdullah, alias Muhammad Sulayman Shunaythir al-Zubai.
A high-level leader within al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI), Abdullah was described by the military as "an experienced bomb maker and attack planner who coordinated attacks on coalition forces over the past three years."
Last Sunday, meanwhile, after receiving a tip on location and movement from local Iraqis, a U.S. Apache helicopter used Hellfire missiles to send six AQI operatives to their eternal reward.
One of them was believed to be a cell leader who organized suicide bombings and attacked coalition forces on Thanksgiving. A video released by the military shows the choppers destroying the black sedan as Army communications are heard in the background.
Maj. Dave Fivecoat, an operations officer for the 3rd Infantry Division, told Fox News it was "an example of two surge brigades sharing information faster than the insurgents can react."
But it is also an example of how we are winning against Iraq's onetime elusive terrorists in a manner beyond the expectations of almost anyone just one short year ago.
For that we have our brave troops to thank at this year's end. We have their commander, Gen. David Petraeus, to thank for his capability and perseverance in handling what the "experts" in Washington were sure was an impossible situation. And we have their commander in chief, President Bush, who not surprisingly just topped the Gallup list of most admired men in America, to thank.
Last year, the conventional Beltway wisdom insisted that Bush had no choice but to accept the "soft surrender" recommended by the Iraq Study Group report.
The president refused, and time has proved him right.
The success is so obvious that Democrats running to replace Bush no longer want to talk about Iraq.
And no wonder: Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, as well as John Edwards, all hold the same position — that ousting Saddam Hussein and liberating the Iraqi people was a mistake. So we should surrender to the terrorists, withdraw U.S. forces, and show terrorist states such as Iran and Syria how nice we are by talking with them and asking their advice on Iraq's future.
Soon those three and their confreres in Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, won't even be able to make their bogus complaints about a lack of political progress in Iraq.
White House Iraq specialist Brett McGurk now expects a de-Baathification law to pass by March, when U.S. forces will have been reduced to a pre-surge level and Petraeus again appears before Congress. A law devolving powers to regional rule may also have passed by then. This after the regional sharing of oil revenues has already taken place on an informal basis.
With so much to be thankful for on Iraq, what a tragedy it would be for Americans and Iraqis alike if the president we elect next year undid our remarkable achievements there.