Anti-American Left Continues to Deny Success in Iraq

It's hard to believe we're still seeing this kind of stuff on the Iraq war, but here's LGM repudiating President Bush and the success of the "surge" counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq:

First, it's far from clear what role, if any, a 15% increase in total U.S. troop deplooyment [sic] in Iraq has played in the country's journey from something close to all-out civil war two years ago, to today's merely horrifying levels of sectarian violence (500 Iraqis are still dying in such violence each month, the per capita equivalent of another 9/11 attack in the U.S. every two weeks. This is what strikes Beinart as a marvelous success, requiring bipartisan hosannas).

That a relatively modest increase in the U.S. troop presence might in and of itself have played no role whatsoever (as opposed to, say, bribing tribal leaders in Anbar, and allowing Baghdad to become almost completely "ethnically cleansed," as well as the purely internal dynamics of Iraqi politics) is quite possible, yet Beinart is so eager to be the classic Beltway centerist [sic] voice of reason that he doesn't even consider that possibility.

Even more objectionable is Beinart's insistence that President Bush showed great courage by ordering the surge. Do we really need any lectures from conspicuously non-combatant warmongering pundits of military age on the meaning of that word? Two years ago Bush was a lame duck president facing a compliant and spineless Congress, who he knew full well would never have the political will to resist whatever new war strategery he deigned to jam down its collective throat. If he had admitted that the invasion of Iraq was a tragic mistake - now that would have required something like courage. Instead he "stayed the course," despite the immense damage his bull-headed idiocies have wreaked.

What else has the man ever done in his whole life but that?

The source for this bile? Why, Cernig, of course.

He and his LGM allies are taking issue with Peter Beinart's piece at the Washington Post, "Admit It: The Surge Worked."

I'm not interesting in debating the point with these idiots. The anti-American left will twist, spin, contort, and defile the Bush administration's record on Iraq, while simultaneously spitting on the gallant civilian and military personnel who worked hard to secure success on the ground.

Tom the Redhunter has frequent Iraq reports from commanders on hand, but see Kimberly Kagan's oustanding overall assessment, "How They Did It Executing the Winning Strategy in Iraq."

Recall, too, that the Democratic defeatists in Congress declared the war lost throughout 2007.

On that, don't miss the report from Peter Feaver, who is a Harvard-trained security expert at Duke University, a former Bush administration official on military policy, and a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve: "Anatomy of the Surge."