One theme that consistently comes through the rhetoric of the anti-Bush crowd is that they don't seem aware of, or even particularly interested in what is going on militarily in Iraq. Small wonder that, since a passing familiarity with the military strategies and operations would force them to acknowledge that troop morale is excellent, progress is being made daily, Al Qaeda insurgents are taking heavy losses, the Iraqi people are increasingly disgusted with insurgent tactics, and Iraqi forces are taking on an increasing share of the burden of protecting the people and their fledgling democracy, all of which plays hell with the "quagmire" narrative. Today at NRO, W. Thomas Smith Jr. has a good piece on Operation Steel Curtain, the campaign in western Iraq in the Syrian border region, that's somewhat encouraging. The porous border remains a problem, but the remaining difficulties we face sure don't equate to reasons to get out:
Of course many — who, again, don't understand the complexities of ground combat — rail against President Bush for not conceding "defeat" and withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. But how could we responsibly withdraw from a fight — that terrorists and terror-sponsoring nations fear we will win — when we have the enemy on the ropes? Why should we shut down operations in Al Anbar and elsewhere in Iraq when we continue to glean solid intelligence from captured foreign fighters in that country about terrorist activities, worldwide? Why should we abandon a new nation and its people who we've made promises to, and they've responded in kind with their own enormous sacrifices and courageous votes? And why should we abandon a growing and remarkably developed military force that we've stood up from scratch in less than three years?And despite what the cut-and-run crowd would have us believe, American troops on the ground are not deceptively recruited pawns in some unfortunate military adventure. U.S. soldiers and Marines in Al Anbar and elsewhere in Iraq know exactly what they are doing, and why. They also see the fruits of their labors, which, to their consternation, are rarely reported.
Bill Roggio is now blogging from Iraq, and can be read these days at ThreatsWatch. Here's his report on "Missing Zarqawi", and another Zarqawi report from James Robbins.