A week ago, I pointed out that the LA Times noticed the change in what was once the most dangerous city in Iraq, Ramadi. Now the New York Freakin' Times is pointing it out as well.
Anbar Province, long the lawless heartland of the tenacious Sunni Arab resistance, is undergoing a surprising transformation. Violence is ebbing in many areas, shops and schools are reopening, police forces are growing and the insurgency appears to be in retreat.
“Many people are challenging the insurgents,” said the governor of Anbar, Maamoon S. Rahid, though he quickly added, “We know we haven’t eliminated the threat 100 percent.”
Many Sunni tribal leaders, once openly hostile to the American presence, have formed a united front with American and Iraqi government forces against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. With the tribal leaders’ encouragement, thousands of local residents have joined the police force. About 10,000 police officers are now in Anbar, up from several thousand a year ago. During the same period, the police force here in Ramadi, the provincial capital, has grown from fewer than 200 to about 4,500, American military officials say.
Of course, both the New York Times and the LA Times are way behind the curve in reporting this story. I (and others) started pointing to the change way back in November 2006 with subsequent reports here, here, here and here. Had they not been so blinded by the Harry Reid "Iraq is Lost" script the recent progress wouldn't be such a surprise.
More importantly the success we are seeing here belies the statements of the Senate Majority Leader who keeps claiming that General Patraeus said that Iraq can not be won by military force: what he actually said was that Iraq can not be won by military force alone. And the fact that Anbar is where it is clearly shows the truth in that. Success here relied upon military and political muscle. So just as Iraq can not be won by military power alone it also can not be won without it.
Senator Reid and the Democratic Leadership refuse to see that without a robust military component, Iraq will be lost, just as without a robust political component Iraq will be lost.
Both military and political components must be present and vigorously engaged.
All of which is part of the new security plan which Senator Reid and the Democrats refuse to acknowledge.
What's more, if it turns out to be true that Abu Ayyub al-Masri is dead, he will have been killed by Iraqis, not US Special Forces as was the case with his predecessor Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. And not just Iraqi's, but the very Sunni (not Shi'a) tribal sheiks that we wooed and eventually won over to the side of democratic participation rather than secession and rebellion.
And I will further note, for the benefit of Senator Reid, that these tribal sheiks are using both military and political engagement to make their corner of the country successful.