“The security improvements in most neighborhoods are real.”
Loser.
Well, knock me over with a straw–and get Harry Reid a Kleenex. The NYTimes, yes, the NYTimes, reports what you’ve been reading from milbloggers and embeds in the blogosphere for weeks and months:
The security improvements in most neighborhoods are real. Days now pass without a car bomb, after a high of 44 in the city in February. The number of bodies appearing on Baghdad’s streets has plummeted to about 5 a day, from as many as 35 eight months ago, and suicide bombings across Iraq fell to 16 in October, half the number of last summer and down sharply from a recent peak of 59 in March, the American military says.
As a result, for the first time in nearly two years, people are moving with freedom around much of this city. In more than 50 interviews across Baghdad, it became clear that while there were still no-go zones, more Iraqis now drive between Sunni and Shiite areas for work, shopping or school, a few even after dark. In the most stable neighborhoods of Baghdad, some secular women are also dressing as they wish. Wedding bands are playing in public again, and at a handful of once shuttered liquor stores customers now line up outside in a collective rebuke to religious vigilantes from the Shiite Mahdi Army.
Iraqis are clearly surprised and relieved to see commerce and movement finally increase, five months after an extra 30,000 American troops arrived in the country. But the depth and sustainability of the changes remain open to question.
By one revealing measure of security — whether people who fled their home have returned — the gains are still limited. About 20,000 Iraqis have gone back to their Baghdad homes, a fraction of the more than 4 million who fled nationwide, and the 1.4 million people in Baghdad who are still internally displaced, according to a recent Iraqi Red Crescent Society survey.
Iraqis sound uncertain about the future, but defiantly optimistic.
By contrast, the Dems in the U.S. remain defiantly pessimistic.
Flashback - April 20, 2007:
“I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and - you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows - (know) this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday,” said Reid, D-Nev.
Democrat Sen. Bob Casey waved the white flag in the Democrat radio address over the weekend.
And tomorrow, Democratic Reps. David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and John Murtha, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, will hold a news conference on Iraq war funding.
They won’t be announcing a change of heart.
***
Via MNF-I:
Caption:
The Eyes Have It
Students stand in line to receive school supplies from U.S. Army soldiers of 32nd Field Artillery Regiment, attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, at the Thekhar Primary School in the Hateem neighborhood of Baghdad, Nov. 12, 2007. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Charles W. Gill.
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I was checking the NYT for The Victory Caucus and found this article on the front page of their site, and another article in the same vein about the dramatic drop in violence. Of course, they both had a nearly identical phrase that I have also seen in early articles:
They still can’t bring themselves to say Al Qaeda is actually IN Iraq…
Oops. Forgot to link the other article.
All this success in Iraq is going to ruin it for the Democrats’ election hopes for next year. They MUST do something to change all this progress! It just can’t be!
/Sarcasm off.
The Leftinistra just cannot get their plethora of acts together. Freud would have a filed day with these people.
oops…make that field day…
I’d rather get Hairy Reed a bag to put over his head…
Bottomless pit…
school supplies??? yep there are time I support welfare!
Love the photo from MNF-I of the girls waiting for their school supplies.
Last year I shopped for, assembled, and sent off 4 school kits via Michelle’s reference to Operation Iraqi Children.
How about another plug for this great group???
Remember the purple thumbs from voting for the first time in 8,000 years, and now kids eager to go to school — can it get any better than this??
“The eyes have it” photo is better than a thousand words.
Agreed, “the eyes have it” photograph says it all. Cover for Newsweek or Time? I hope so.
heh… just sent a lovely e-mail to Sen Reid via his webform (just find a city and zipcode from Nevada), and when I was done, and submitted it, I got the following
Somehow, I don’t think so, harry…
“So, read the NYT lately, Senator? Guess you should have waited before you called a failure somethin that wasn’t finished yet.”
I guess the Gray Lady has decided the news of success in Iraq is finally fit to print, now that bloggers have published it. Maybe the real value of blogs is not just breaking news but forcing the main stream media to publish it.
What about the caption of Senator Reid? Loser. Very nice.
At this point, any politician invested in defeat will have to answer to the general populace. This war — though controversial — is being won. We now have to win it at home.
To answer Sen. Kerry from 2004, this is “winning the peace.”
I have had many friends argue that we cannot tell what victory looks like. I say it looks like those beautiful little girls with wide eyes, big smiles, and hope.
If anyone could actually get close enough to have the fine upstanding close minded ignorant haters up in Olympia realize what were doing over there is an unpresidented act of humanitarianism maybe it would resolve their idiotic behavior and our military could go about their task at hand undisturbed with the honor the deserve.
In their little debriefing classes might be a place to show them some solid examples and wake their a$$e$ up. While were at it have “Tommy” Reid sit in with them, he’s one of the most vile pathetic people on earth.
Senator Reed is sounding, if not looking, a lot like Baghdad Bob. He wouldn’t acknowledge victory if it bit him on the ass. However, victory will not bite him on the ass, as he is too much of a mouthful…
Bob Casey-a true liberal’s liberal.If this clown ever had a thought,he didn’t know what to do with it.The Dems here in SW Pa.called Santorum a water-carrier for Bush,so they elected this a$$hat who is nothing but a ventriloquist’s dummy for Reid,Pelosi,et al.Most of the time since being elected,he has remained invisible,they take him out of the suitcase when they want a “different”voice to mouth the same old defeatist platitudes.Great leaders we have here in Pa.No wonder there are Steeler’s fans all over the country-they couldn’t stand living in Pa.
Our troops rock!
Reid, Pelosi and any other Dem with their head so far up their patoot that they wouldn’t notice the light of day - can shove it.
The truth is out and a picture is worth a thousand words. Little girls in the Middle East getting an education…priceless.
We have more killings in a day in the Houston area than in Iraq now.We need a surge here.
Lame Stream Media attempt to try and stem the bleeding.
Could you make that an opaque plastic bag?
That picture of those little girls put a smile on my face!!!!!
When does Harry Reid come up for re election? Who is there of any political idealogy, to run against him? Nevada can’t do worse then this panderer.
Hey, Harry, D-Leftistan; look at those kids faces & tell me things aren’t getting better.
The NYT is following a pattern. The paper discovered that increased police presence and increased freedom of police action made NYC safer. Of course, this discovery was made after Giuliani left office.
chsw
I wonder if there has been another time in US history where a political party has actually hoped for the US to lose a war and actively attempted to thwart the military for political reasons. It is a time of shame for the Democratic Party. How Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi sleep at night is beyond me.
The NYT is a traitor. I wonder why it is suddenly telling the truth. What are its motives? It certainly is the well being of our country, support of our military and patriotism.
2011 laree, class III
Not soon enough.
The picture of that girl actually brought tears to my eyes. And to think the Dems are working to deny her a life of normalcy (to say nothing about denying our brave troops victory) is so infuriating.
The dems keep trying to surrender, but they just can’t get the majority of Americans to go along with them. Somebody has to be right on this issue and it’s not those politicians.
katieanne,
By the looks on their faces and the absence of rational thoughs coming out of their mouths, I doubt that they are sleeping at night. At least I hope not.
Bad news for #24
That shredding sound you hear is the national security credibility of the NYT, Harry Reid and the entire Democratic Party.
Defeatism is going to generate a fierce backlash. The Dems are too late to hang defeat on Bush by forcing a surrender date. W can argue that the war is being won and defunding is a clear stab in the back of our troops and Iraqis.
Dems will not survive the backlash and will forfeit the White House in 2008.
It’s our troops like ArmoredCAV providing the security and training to the Iraqi’s so they can eventually provide their own security themselves. They are the ones bringing back the basic services of civilization to this country. Despite the misinformation by the former paper of record and other MSM outlets our troops are actually making progress in the face of overwhelming odds from their enemies on the ground and in our own Government (Democrat led Congress with a little help from Hollyweird, i.e. Redacted). General Petraus is the US Grant of this war he provided the leadership and tactics to allow this significant turn around. The picture of the smile on those little girls makes their toil and sacrifice in defending our freedoms worth every bit of blood and treasure we are spending in this single battlefield of the global war against the Islamist. Another thing to be thankful for as our family gathers on Thursday.
Eventually the truth has to leak out. It takes a lot longer for the Treason Times to admit it but they know they are in trouble. Showing a tiny bit of honest reporting (painful as it must be) is necessary to hang on to what little credibility they have left. Actually they have none but I’ll take their feeble attempt to do so.
The left has to be crapping in their shorts trying to figure out how to spin this against Bush. Reid is praying for disaster and Pelosoi must be trying to schedule another meeting with Syria & Iran to stir up some violence.
God bless our troupes!!!!! You are the best!
Just heard some good/bad news;
Bad news is Aliens have landed in Washington D.C. The good news is they eat liberals and piss gasoline.
Personally, I wish there was a way to do a poll in Iraq and see how many children there have been named after George Bush, and how many have been named Nancy or Harry. Then I would like that to be presented to them and let it be a way for them to see what the Iraqi people think.
Not that it would matter much to them. But it would be amusing to me..grins.
I still cringe when the words from Bill O’ pop in my head - “we have lost the war in Iraq”
Lost it for whom?
The liberals in the office where I work absolutely hate the picture I have hanging up in my space of female children attending school with the caption, “I’m in school now. Thank you!”
I agree with AJ:
Drive on, troops.
Republicans should mention that the Democrats in Congress deserve some credit for the surge.
Something like,
This might help get more support for the war and finally allow us to see a united front. This would surely be a significant blow to our enemy’s morale.
What does anyone wanna bet that come Thursday (Thanskgiving, when everyone sits around discussing world news over a turkey nosh) that the NYT front page carries a VERY discouraging
news articlepropoganda piece on the war… They’re just getting the real news out of the way on a travel day….#35 LOL !
Boomer
Just doing what many guys here would be doing if it was earlier in time…
Seriously, we have added school openings to our mission-set recently, though. You have no idea how awesome it is to see a bunch of “trained killers” standing around, playing with the kids. We distro backpacks, pens, notebooks, stuffed animals, soccer balls (the overwhelming favorite). Some of my most treasured photos are from these days, though I do not have any nearly as poignant as the one accompanying this article. (That is why I am not a photo-journalist!)
Oh yeah. our ability to continue doing these school openings, as well as other projects, is rapidly going away because our wonderful Congress is unwilling to exert its constitutional duty to execute the power of the purse.
#26
Yes, the Federalist Party during the War of 1812 was much like the modern Democrats in that respect. I was reading a memoir from the period not too long ago and noted that the author was encouraged to desert his militia post by his Federalist friends (he was a Federalist at the time, but seems to have altered his views rather radically by the time he wrote).
Incidently, the collapse of the Federalist party is tied pretty closely to the fact we managed to pull off a few few clear victories right at the end and achieve a draw rather than a defeat…
ArmoredCAV,
Keep up the good work, brother. If you ever find yourself NTC bound, give me a shout. Beers for you and yours are on me.
Archon
Thanks for the offer. Don’t take this wrong, but I’d rather be over here with no MILES and no OC’s!!
Next rotation is looking like ‘09 for me.
Regards,