Ruh-Roh… Bad news for the Party of Defeat.
Even the UN is recognizing the political and security progress in Iraq.
The “political progress” argument was the Democrat’s sacred cow. What will they say now?
What will Democratic leader Harry Reid do now?
The BBC reported:
Iraq faces a period of economic growth and political progress, according to assessments by the International Monetary Fund and the UN.
The IMF sees 7% growth in 2008 and a similar rise next year, and says oil revenues from buoyant exports should be up by 200,000 barrels a day.
The UN envoy to Iraq welcomed dialogue between the Sunni and Shia communities and praised the government’s work.
The AP does its best to try and spin this good news into something more gloomy:
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday welcomed the reduction in attacks across Iraq and called for similar improvements in the political arena.
His report to the U.N. Security Council echoed the message that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brought Iraq’s leader during a visit Tuesday, warning that the cut in violence could be fleeting if the country’s main groups did not reach an agreement on the future of the country.
Ban, who wrote his report prior to Rice’s visit, said “the reduction in the overall number of attacks reported across Iraq is a welcome development.”
But he said continued improvement in the security situation is likely to depend on engagement by Iraqi security forces and the U.S.-led multinational force, an extension of a temporary cease-fire by radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, and developments related to the Awakening Councils, Sunni Arab groups that switched sides to join U.S. forces against al-Qaida in Iraq.
This wonderful news is going to hit the Defeatist Party hard.
How will they spin this?
UPDATE: More Good News From Iraq–
The following is the translation of an article by Iraqi-American Haider Ajina from Iraq’s Buratha News on January 15 2008:
Over 500 hundred displaced families return to Tel-Aafar.
The Mayor of Tallafar Najem Abdulah Aljuboori announced that over 500 hundred families have returned to the city. This has started since improved security over past months. The mayor said this in an announcement to the Central press office of Kurdistan. These are some of the three thousand families who left due to sectarian violence sparked by AlQaida in the past.
These displaced families had left for Musul, Rubaiiah, Sinjar, and Karbala and Nejaf province. The last three months in Tel-Aafar have been calm and peaceful with remarkable security improvement. This has caused displaced families to return to their homes. Further a large number of families have returned to farms, small villages and hamlets. These have not been counted yet.
While terrorist violent acts have substantially declined, they have not ceased. Before the security operations, We used to have two terrorist explosions a week in addition to kidnappings, killings and sectarian evictions. However since the security operations, over the last few months, these violent acts have declined substantially. The decline started after the visible city wide deployment of security forces of the IA third company and Tal-Aafar police. While this deployment has not stopped violent activity, is has reduced it. In November last year we had only one terrorist car bomb explosions and one murder at the hands of armed groups and one civilian death as a result of a katusha attack. Matters have improved in Tel-Aafar. Life is returning to normal, stores are open and receiving patrons, after their closure for months. Barriers and barricades have also been removed from most streets. Many meetings and conferences are held between Shiite & Sunni members of the community. Tel-Aafar town hall is receiving daily request for assistance from families wanting to return to their homes and to provide them with papers to assist their return…
Haider Ajina comments:
This is a picture of success of US and Iraqi security in bringing calm to a city, which suffered much terrorist activity and sectarian strife. Mostly due to Alqaid and Baathist agitation to create tension between different sects. Tel-Aafar residents have suffered much hardship and damage to infrastructure. Now that calm has returned to the city. The mayor’s office can concentrate on rebuilding and improving the city along with dealing with returning families. This sequence of events is typical for cities, which fell under Taliban type control. Such as Anbar province, which has been calm with much redevelopment and improvement. In fact Anbar boasts some of the longest hours of continuous daily electricity in Iraq. Thanks to our successful efforts in enlisting the cooperation of local tribes in the awakening programs and the surge with it’s embedding of security forces in neighborhoods.
Haider Ajina also sends the following fun and light news from VOI about Iraqi soccer:
Baghdad, Jan 8, (VOI) – Iraqi football (soccer) player Nashaat Akram (pictured) signed for British Premier League club Manchester City, the Iraqi al-Shurta Sports Club vice president said.
“Akram signed a 2.5-year contract for Manchester City,” Ihsan al-Aamili, who attended the signing ceremonies, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) from Manchester, Britain, by telephone on Monday evening. Aamili did not give information about the contract’s financial details.
“Manchester’s technical manager, Sven Goran Eriksson, also attended the ceremonies for signing Akram, the first Iraqi in the history of British football pitches,” he added.
Akram has played for al-Shurta club for three seasons from 2001 until 2003.
Manchester City is now occupying the fourth rank in the British Premier League.
Akram, 23, won the third ranking in a poll on the best player in the Asian continent in the year 2007.
He played in the Iraqi juniors’ team in 1999, the youths’ team in 2001, the Olympic team in 2003 and then joined the national team from 2003 until the present time.Akram also played for Saudi Arabia’s al-Nasr and al-Shabab clubs for four seasons before signing the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s al-Ain club this 2007/2008 season for 1.20
0 billion Iraqi dinars (roughly $1 million).
Regards,
Haider Ajina
UPDATE: It looks like Democrats and their peace-activist groups will now focus on blocking the US from entering into any long-term agreements with the fledgling Iraqi government.
This move by democrats would hurt our national security by denying the US a base in a strategic location. It would also put the Iraqi democracy at risk.
Why is this not surprising?
