On a front more important than YouTube videos, the news continues to pile up from Iraq on the really remarkable successes earned through the relentless daily work and sacrifice of today’s veterans. Stories like that covered in USA Today this morning: Roadside bombs in Iraq fall sharply.

The number of roadside bombs found in Iraq declined dramatically in August and September from earlier this year, and U.S. officials say the discoveries of thousands of ammunition caches might explain the drop.

[...]

On Monday, the U.S. command in Baghdad also said rocket and mortar attacks have dropped to their lowest levels in 21 months. The tallies were issued a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said suicide attacks and other bombings in Baghdad also declined.

[...]

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of U.S. forces south of the capital, said Sunday he believed the decrease in rocket and mortar attacks would hold because of what he called a “groundswell” of support from regular Iraqis. “If we didn’t have so many people coming forward to help, I’d think this is a flash in the pan. But that’s just not the case,” Lynch said.

With shops and restaurants in Baghdad coming back to life and citizens filling the streets again, even the BBC is finally forced to ask: Is Iraq Getting Better?

And then there’s the news that beleaguered al-Qaeda fighters, driven from their former safe havens in Anbar and Diyala, are now being pursued in the northern part of Iraq.

A week-long military operation against al-Qaeda in 4 provinces of northern Iraq has led to the capture of 200 suspected operatives.

Three high-value al-Qaeda operatives are also among those captured in the efforts.

They were arrested on Sunday in an operation dubbed ‘Operation Iron Hammer’. The operation, which started November 5, involves four Iraqi army divisions and three US brigade combat teams.

The sound of the Democratic candidates for president continuing to call for an effective surrender — in the face of all of this progress — is getting to be beyond absurd. But nothing about that is news, unfortunately, and Joe Lieberman covered it about as well as it can be covered in his speech last Thursday.

U.S. troops have already started to come home, and if the longer term plans stay on track, this will continue through next year and beyond. The question is whether this withdrawal will be perceived — here and around the world — as the well-earned fruit of victory or as the depressing result of defeat. Those U.S. political candidates who are so invested in framing the reduction of troops in the latter manner really ought to consider who they are benefiting by doing so. Their hope, of-course, is that they are benefiting themselves. And that hope of theirs is one that truly deserves to be frustrated.

...................
Share this!

Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:

• Big News in Baghdad
• On the offensive
• Tomatoes, cucumbers and other good news