Ramadi at one time, and for a long time, was the most dangerous city in Iraq. With steady work and dedication, US forces continued to clear Ramadi, and indeed all of Anbar of al Qaeda while at the same time, forming alliances with the Sunni tribes that dominated the area. And things started to turn. Suddenly, al Qaeda was no longer welcome here. And US forces, now with the help of the Iraqi population, continued to hunt al Qaeda. The tipping point had come. Last week seven more Anbar tribes turned against al Qaida and towards the political process. And now the Sunni's of al Anbar have formed their own, anti-al Qaeda political party.
A group of Sunni tribal leaders in beleaguered Al Anbar province said Thursday that it intended to form a national party to oppose insurgents such as Al Qaeda in Iraq and reengage with Iraq's political process.
The announcement came after 200 sheiks said to represent 50 tribes met here and agreed to form a provincial sheiks council and hold the first convention in May of their new party, called Iraq Awakening. Sheiks from three other provinces will attend, organizers said....
One purpose of the party, Sattar said, is to promote a better image of American-led forces "to the Iraqis here." He added that the tribes also would participate in a U.S.-backed effort to reestablish a court system in Ramadi, the provincial capital.
And now, even the LA Times has to take note of the progress.
'A FEW WEEKS ago you couldn't drive down this street without being attacked. When I went down this street in February, I was hit three times with small-arms fire and IEDs." Col. John Charlton was describing Ramadi as we drove down its heavily damaged main street, dubbed Route Michigan by U.S. forces. Even though this was an unlucky day — Friday the 13th (of April) — we did not experience a single attack on our convoy of Humvees.
The previous week, a suicide bomber drove a truck filled with explosives and chlorine gas into a police checkpoint, killing 12 people (not the 27 or more cited in most news accounts). But such violence, once the norm, has become the exception. Ramadi, which used to see 20 to 25 attacks a day, now sees an average of two to four a day. By the time I visited, no U.S. soldier had been killed in the town for weeks.
That remarkable success is worth pondering at a time when most Americans are willing to write off Iraq as a lost cause.
It's something responsible law-makers should know about. But if the Democratic Leadership knows, they're not letting on. I doubt even General Patraeus, whom they unaimously praised when they approved his selection, will be able to inform them. They have their fingers in their ears.
At this point they are simply invested is failure because if Iraq succeeds, they look like fools, but if Iraq fails, Bush looks like a fool.
And nothing, not the Iraqi people, not American security, not even the truth, is allowed to make Democrats look like the fools that they are.