Bing West has been one of the most astute observers of the war in Iraq. Having just returned from his 15th visit, he says we have won Iraq through: Decency, Toughness ... and No Shortcuts By Bing West The Atlantic September 24, 2008 The Iraq war has faded as an item of interest to the national press because the violence has plummeted, while a consensus has formed that the American military learned from experience and now knows what it’s doing. In 2006, we were losing the war; today, the military trajectory is encouraging, and U.S. forces are slowly withdrawing. During my 15th trip to Iraq in August, for the first time I didn’t hear a shot fired. In several cities, I walked into markets with only a few American soldiers, and was immediately surrounded by Iraqis eager to talk about the economy, security, politics, whatever. Normality? Nowhere close. Concrete barriers (designed to restrict the flesh-ripping radius of suicide bombers) were still in place, enclosing neighborhoods in Baghdad and a dozen other cities. Car bombings and criminal kidnappings persisted, as did battles against disparate al-Qaeda cells and Shiite insurgent gangs incited by Iran. Still, Iraq was not engulfed in civil war. The Sunni resistance had largely collapsed. A sure sign that the war in Iraq has turned around has been the rush to take credit. Victory has a thousand fathers. This would seem a harmless parlor game, were Afghanistan not looming. Military success in Iraq is sure to lead to lessons to be applied in Afghanistan. Let’s make sure we pick the right lessons. What did cause the turnaround since 2006? Three competing explanations have popped up. Some have claimed that covert operations, involving the use of top-secret technical devices, are what drove the insurgency’s leaders from Iraq. Others attribute the turnaround to Bush’s decision in January 2007 to add 30,000 more troops. And still others suggest that it is the brilliance of General Petraeus, who took command in Iraq in February of 2007, that we have to thank for the improvements. There is some truth to each of the three explanations. But all fall wide of the mark. The foremost reason for the turnaround is that the Sunni population switched from attacking American (and Iraqi Army) soldiers to aligning with them against al-Qaeda. What prompted that switch was the behavior of the American soldiers contrasted with that of the al-Qaeda fighters.

Now that the Dems can no longer deny the success of the surge, let's see if they can deny the fact that reconciliation is occurring in Iraq. Meanwhile In Iraq By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Thursday, September 25, 2008 4:20 AM PT Democracy: Lawmakers in Iraq reached a crucial milestone this week by approving provincial elections. This is more evidence for the "reconciliation" that Barack Obama claims not to see. Good news is no news these days, especially when it comes from Iraq. So you might have missed the story about the political breakthrough in the Iraqi parliament, which approved legislation to hold a new round of provincial elections early next year. The bill — which awaits approval by a three-person presidential council — is important ...

John McCain hammered Obama yesterday on Iraq: "For a guy who talks so much about hope, he didn't hold out much hope for victory in Iraq. Instead, he commits the greatest error of insisting that even in hindsight, he would oppose the surge." McCain linked Obama's failure of hope on Iraq to his failure to lead in the current economic crisis: "Whether it's a reversal in war, or an economic emergency, he reacts as a politician and not as a leader, seeking an advantage for himself instead of a solution for his country," McCain said. McCain told the National Guard Association that he had offered a plan to resolve ...

Kipling once described how a real man acts in the midst of chaos: "If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; . . . If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same . . . Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it." In Why The Surge Worked, Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.) credits President Bush for keeping his head when everyone around him, including the Joint Chiefs, were losing theirs. . . . ...

Recently, Barack Obama was forced to admit that the surge worked beyond his wildest dreams. Now it's the New York Times turn. NYT reporter Dexter Filkins ventured back to Iraq after two years away. He was jarred by the calm. Filkins paints a vivid picture of a serene city that he could not have imagined just 25 months ago: When I left Baghdad two years ago, the nation’s social fabric seemed too shredded to ever come together again. The very worst had lost its power to shock. To return now is to be jarred in the oddest way possible: by the normal, by the pleasant, even ...