American And Iraqi Forces Clear Out What's Left Of Al-Queada

Woooooooooo Hoooooooooooooo Way to Go Troops!!!!

American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.

After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul.

A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.

Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.



The group has been reduced to hit-and-run attacks, including one that killed two off-duty policemen yesterday, and sporadic bombings aimed at killing large numbers of officials and civilians.

Last Friday I joined the 2nd Iraqi Division as it supported local police in a house-to-house search for one such bomb after intelligence pointed to a large explosion today.

Even in the district of Zanjali, previously a hotbed of the insurgency, it was possible to accompany an Iraqi colonel on foot through streets of breeze-block houses studded with bullet holes. Hundreds of houses were searched without resistance but no bomb was found, only 60kg of explosives.

American and Iraqi leaders believe that while it would be premature to write off Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni group has lost control of its last urban base in Mosul and its remnants have been largely driven into the countryside to the south.

Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, who has also led a crackdown on the Shi’ite Mahdi Army in Basra and Baghdad in recent months, claimed yesterday that his government had “defeated” terrorism.

“They were intending to besiege Baghdad and control it,” Maliki said. “But thanks to the will of the tribes, security forces, army and all Iraqis, we defeated them.”

The number of foreign fighters coming over the border from Syria to bolster Al-Qaeda’s numbers is thought to have declined to as few as 20 a month, compared with 120 a month at its peak.

Brigadier General Abdullah Abdul, a senior Iraqi commander, said: “We’ve limited their movements with check-points. They are doing small attacks and trying big ones, but they’re mostly not succeeding.”

Major-General Mark Hertling, American commander in the north, said: “I think we’re at the irreversible point.”



Iraqis lead final purge of Al-Qaeda

WHEN IT'S OBAMA, EVERYONE ELSE GET'S THE BLAME
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Hmmmmm.. I think It was "Dingey Harry Reid D-NV" that said "The War Is Lost"!!!

And isnt Barack Obama saying he want's to end the War? Look's like the Troops took care of that already Democrats!! Once again America Wins!! :-)
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US REMOVES URANIUM FROM IRAQ

The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program - a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium - reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.

The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" - the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment - was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions. (CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE STORY.)



Oh My!!!!!

Have'nt we been told all along Saddam had NO WMD? Then..... what the hell is this?
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Kerry says McCain lacks judgment to be president:

John Kerry says Republican John McCain doesn't have the judgment to be president.
If that's the case, then it's probably a good thing McCain rejected overtures from Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, to form a bipartisan ticket and run with Kerry as his candidate for vice president.

Kerry had no kind words his Senate colleague Sunday, accusing McCain of poor decision-making on everything from backing tax cuts to making support for continuing the U.S. military presence in Iraq the centerpiece of his presidential campaign.

"John McCain ... has proven that he has been wrong about every judgment he's made about the war. Wrong about the Iraqis paying for the reconstruction, wrong about whether or not the oil would pay for it, wrong about Sunni and Shia violence through the years, wrong about the willingness of the Iraqis to stand up for themselves," Kerry, who supports Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, said on CBS' "Face the Nation." (CLICK HERE FOR ENTIRE STORY:)


 

Ahem.....Senator Kerry, you are about a day late and a dollar short in your tiny little mind.

If left up to the Democrats our Troops would have come home with a huge Al-Queada Victory behind them, and they would have been humiliated. But then again that's the Democrat way!

Thank's to Senator John McCain and President George Bush our Troops will come home Victorious and the Democrats just cant stand it.

Investing In Iraq

Foreign firms investing in Iraq


*TOP EXPORTERS TO IRAQ

*January through April (in millions):

*United States: $737

*Turkey: $648

*China: $358

*Thailand: $110

*South Korea: $102


WASHINGTON — European and Asian companies are beating their American rivals into Iraq now that security has improved the investment climate, Iraq and U.S. officials say.
"It's starting to turn … and the people who are getting in on the ground floor are not American," said Paul Brinkley, the Pentagon official who is leading U.S. efforts to help Iraq rebuild its economy. "It's ironic."



Foreign companies, including U.S. investors, have committed to deals worth about $500 million so far this year and Brinkley expects at least $1 billion in foreign investment by the end of the year.

So far, Romanian consortium and a Lebanese company have signed revenue-sharing deals with Iraqi state-owned cement factories. Each group will invest about $150 million.

China has also aggressively pursued the Iraqi market, selling machinery to the government and electronic products to consumers.



Zebari noted that Turkish and Russian companies were already active in Iraq. "They take risks," he told USA TODAY in an interview. "No pain, no gain."

Many of the companies active in Iraq now are from countries, including France, Russia and Turkey, that did not send combat troops to back the U.S.-led invasion.

Some U.S. and Iraqi officials say American companies risk losing an early opportunity to establish long-term strategic ties with Iraq.

"My question is, 'Where are you guys in terms of investment, in terms of economic engagement?' " said Naufel al-Hassan, Iraq's commercial counselor in Washington. "Iraqis need your support. Why let someone else do that?"


HighFive 

There are no reliable historic numbers, but the deals this year are among the first major investment opportunities outside U.S.-funded reconstruction projects and they signal new confidence in Iraq's economy.

The activity by non-U.S. companies is not a cause for concern, said Charles Reis, the U.S. counselor for economic transition in Iraq. "This is a normalization of Iraq's relationship with the rest of the world," he said.



Large U.S. companies won the bulk of the $20 billion worth of reconstruction contracts funded by the military. Now, however, opportunities are riskier and require more local understanding.

That has favored non-U.S. investors who have had prewar experience in Iraq, said Timothy Mills, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Iraq.

American companies may also be reluctant to invest in Iraq because the war has generated so much controversy at home, Brinkley said.

The private investments that come from the USA are generally individual or institutional investors — not American corporations, Brinkley said. U.S. investors, for example, are part of a $120 million deal to build a hotel in the heavily fortified Green Zone, where U.S. and Iraqi government offices are located.

Americans lead other nations in the number of exports to Iraq, but other nations have ramped up trade. China doubled the number of exports to Iraq this year.



China is now Iraq's third-largest trade partner behind the USA and Turkey, according to Global Trade Information Services, a firm that tracks trade statistics.

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Where is the US on this? If the rest of the world can invest in Iraq I think we could do alot more. After all it was the US that Liberated them. Boy has the tide turned from (Harry Dumbass Reid D-NV) "The War Is Lost" statement, to Resort Hotels and investing in Iraq from all over the world. The Democrats have been wrong on this issue all along and they continue to be wrong with their Rock Star Leader Barack Obama leading the charge. Sorry Democrats our Troops have been Victorious, we have WON the War, and you prove constantly that you have no clue how to run this Country.

US Troop Death's Overall Iraqi Death's Drop To All Time Low

BAGHDAD, June 1 - U.S. troop deaths in Iraq fell to their lowest level last month since the 2003 invasion and officials said on Sunday improved security also helped the country boost oil production in May to a post-war high.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Iraq's oil minister credited better security for the two milestones, which illustrated a dramatic turnabout in the fortunes of a country on the brink of all-out sectarian civil war just 12 months ago.



"We've still got a distance to go but I think lower casualty rates are a reflection of some real progress," Gates told reporters in Singapore. "The key will be to continue to sustain the progress we have seen."

American generals have stressed that the security gains are both fragile and reversible. That was shown in March, when an Iraqi government offensive against Shi'ite militias in southern Basra sparked a surge in violence in the capital and other cities, catching U.S. and Iraqi officials off guard.

The U.S. military said 19 soldiers died in May, the lowest monthly death toll in a five-year-old war that has so far claimed the lives of more than 4,000 American soldiers.



Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani told Reuters in an interview that the improved security had helped Iraq, which has the world's third-largest oil reserves, raise oil production to a post-war high of 2.5 million barrels per day in May.

Iraq's oil industry, hit by decades of sanctions, war and neglect, was a vulnerable target for saboteurs after the U.S. invasion. Attacks on pipelines quickly destroyed any hopes of using Iraq's vast oil reserves to fund its reconstruction.

The military says violence in Iraq is now at a four-year low following crackdowns by U.S. and Iraqi forces on Shi'ite militias in southern Basra and Baghdad and on al Qaeda in the northern city of Mosul, its last major urban stronghold.

"In May we have exceeded for the first time a 2 million barrels per day export rate. In production we have exceeded 2.5 million bpd," Shahristani said.

The number of Iraqi civilians killed in May also fell, to 505, after reaching a seven-month high of 968 in April, figures compiled by the interior, defence and health ministries showed.

U.S. officials credit the turnaround in security to President George W. Bush's decision to send 30,000 extra troops to Iraq, a rebellion by Sunni tribal leaders against al Qaeda, and a ceasefire by anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.



In Iraq's more stable south, about 500 Australian troops pulled out of their base in the city of Nassiriya, signalling an end to Australia's combat mission in the country.

Australia, a close U.S. ally, was one of the first countries to commit troops to the Iraq invasion, but Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Labour party won election last November largely on Rudd's campaign promise to bring the troops home this year.



The war is also a big issue in the U.S. presidential election, with Republican nominee John McCain vowing not to withdraw troops until the war is won, and his Democratic opponents Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promising to bring them home as soon as possible.

Baghdad and the United States are negotiating a new deal that will provide a legal basis for U.S. troops in Iraq when their United Nations mandate expires at the end of the year.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a rare statement on the talks that they were at their early stages, but he acknowledged there were differences between Iraq and the United States over what should be included in the agreement.

"The Iraqi side has a vision and their draft differs from the American side and their vision," he said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki meanwhile asked France to supply sophisticated weaponry during a visit by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Sunday.



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But...But...But... I thought the War was Lost? That's what the Democrat's keep telling us! So the Iraqi Troops are taking on more of the Security, and learning how to defend thier own Country thank's to our's and the Coalition Troops. And a HUGE THANK YOU to Austrailia :-) And a Big WAY TO GO TROOPS!!!!

Disneyland Comes To Baghdad

Llewellyn Werner admits he is facing obstacles most amusement park developers never have to deal with – insurgent attacks and looting.

When you are building an amusement park in downtown Baghdad, those risks come with the territory.

Mr Werner, chairman of C3, a Los Angeles-based holding company for private equity firms, is pouring millions of dollars into developing the Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience, a massive American-style amusement park that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum. It is being designed by the firm that developed Disneyland. “The people need this kind of positive influence. It’s going to have a huge psychological impact,” Mr Werner said.

The 50-acre (20 hectare) swath of land sits adjacent to the Green Zone and encompasses Baghdad’s existing zoo, which was looted, left without power and abandoned after the American-led invasion in 2003. Only 35 of 700 animals survived – some starved, some were stolen and some were killed by Iraqis fearing food shortages.

In the years that followed, the zoo and the surrounding al-Zawra park became an occasional target for insurgent attacks. But in recent months, families have begun to return cautiously for weekend picnics. Renovations have already begun on the zoo, with cages being repainted and new animals arriving, including ostriches, bears and a lion.

Baghdad Zoo


Mr Werner, who has been sold a 50-year lease on the site by the Mayor of Baghdad for an undisclosed sum, says that the time is ripe for the amusement park. “I think people will embrace it. They’ll see it as an opportunity for their children regardless if they’re Shia or Sunni. They’ll say their kids deserve a place to play and they’ll leave it alone.”

Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the Government, is equally optimistic: “There is a shortage of entertainment in the city. Cinemas can’t open. Playgrounds can’t open. The fun park is badly needed for Baghdad. Children don’t have any opportunities to enjoy their childhood.” Mr al-Dabbagh added that entry to the park would be strictly controlled.

The project will cost $500 million (£250 million) and will be managed by Iraqis. Under the terms of the lease, Mr Werner will retain exclusive rights to housing and hotel developments, which he says will be both culturally sensitive and enormously profitable. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t making money,” he said. “I also have this wonderful sense that we’re doing the right thing – we’re going to employ thousands of Iraqis. But mostly everything here is for profit.”

A $1 million skateboard park, the first phase of the development, will open in July. Parts for 200,000 skateboards and materials to build ramps will be shipped from America to Iraq for assembly at state-owned factories and distributed free to Iraqi children along with helmets and knee pads.

The larger entertainment park, designed by Ride and Show Engineering Inc, will follow in phases, part of a strategy launched two years ago by the Iraqi Government and the US to attract private investment into the country’s 192 state-owned factories.

The factories were closed in 2003 by Paul Bremer, then the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, who believed that private enterprise would take their place. Instead, industries withered and half a million skilled workers were left jobless.

A task force headed by Paul Brinkley, Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for Business Transformation, is now attempting to revive Iraq’s factories – a task undermined by persistent violence.

But Mr Werner, whose company manages several hundred million dollars of equity, sees Iraq as a great opportunity. “Iraq to me is an open field. I have never in my life seen an opportunity with the potential that Iraq has with its skilled workforce and oil reserves.” He has begun partnerships with several Iraqi factories in the last year, investing tens of millions of dollars in joint ventures. But the Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience could prove the most ambitious. General David Petraeus, head of US forces, is said to be a “big supporter” of the project, according to Mr Brinkley.

“There are all sorts of investment opportunities all over Iraq. But it’s not just hydrocarbons. Half the Iraqi population is under the age of 15. These kids really need something to do,” Mr Brinkley said.

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UPDATE:

AL QUEADA CHEIF SLAMS MUSLIMS FOR LACK OF SUPPORT
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WAY TO GO DISNEYLAND!! What an excellent Idea :-)

Iraqi Army Rescues British Journalist

A kidnapped British journalist was rescued by Iraqi troops on Monday after two months in captivity in the southern city of Basra, the Iraqi military said.

Richard Butler, who worked for CBS News, was found with a sack over his head and his hands tied inside a house in Basra, Lt. Gen. Mohan al-Fireji said. He said Butler was in good condition.

Butler was found during an Iraqi military sweep in the Jibiliya area, a Shiite militia stronghold in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Defense ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said that an army patrol conducting a search came under fire from the house where Butler was being held. One of the gunmen was wounded in an exchange of fire and another captured while two men managed to escape, he said.



Butler was later shown on Iraqi state television laughing and greeting his rescuers.

"Thank you and I'm looking forward to seeing my family and my friends at CBS and thank you again," Butler told al-Askari.

He described the soldiers' performance as "brilliant."

"The Iraqi army stormed the house and overcame my guards and they burst through the door," Butler said. "I had my hood on which I had to have on all the time and they shouted something at me and I pulled my hood off."

In London, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband welcomed Butler's release and said he was "very grateful to (Iraqi) security forces for the professionalism of the task they have undertaken."

He said Butler was in the care of the British consulate in Basra.

Butler was kidnapped along with his Iraqi interpreter on Feb. 10 in Basra. The interpreter was later released. Iraqi police and witnesses said the two men were seized by about eight masked gunmen wielding machine guns who stormed a hotel in the city.

In recent days, Iraqi forces have started house-to-house sweeps for arms, weapons, drugs and criminal elements in several parts of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. The military said it has uncovered an improvised explosive device factory, along with significant arms caches and numerous roadside bombs, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

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What a GIANT feet this is for Iraq! This is wonderful, the Iraqi Army is starting to kick some major butt and will be able to stand on thier own soon. Rescuing this guy is awesome. Some people fixate on the 1000 Iraqi Troops that took off and didnt stay and fight, out of 14,000 Troops, I would like to pay attention to the 13,000 Iraqi Troops that stayed and fought in the battle for Basra :-)

Iraqi Army Takes The Lead

As Iraqi Army And Police Take The Lead With Only A Few Calls For Airstrikes Al-Sadr Pulls Fighters Off Iraq Streets

BAGHDAD - Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said Sunday that he was pulling his fighters off the streets nationwide and called on the government to stop raids against his followers and free them from prison.

The Iraqi government quickly welcomed al-Sadr's apparent move to resolve a widening conflict with his movement, sparked Tuesday by operations against his backers in the oil-rich southern city of Basra.



Al-Sadr's nine-point statement was issued by his headquarters in the holy city of Najaf and broadcast through loudspeakers on Shiite mosques. It said the first point was: "taking gunmen off the streets in Basra and elsewhere."

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh called the statement "positive and responsible." But he also warned in a telephone interview broadcast on Iraqi state TV. that security forces would continue to target those who don't follow the order.

"We expect a wide response to this call," he said. "After this announcement, anybody who targets the government and its institutions will be regarded ... as outlaws."

Scattered firing could be heard in central Baghdad hours after al-Sadr's statement was released, and rockets or mortars were fired toward the U.S.-protected Green Zone.

A U.S. public address system in the Green Zone warned people to "duck and cover" and to stay away from windows.

Iraqi security forces have been facing fierce resistance to their crackdown on militia violence in the southern city of Basra.

One of al-Maliki's top security officials was killed in a mortar attack against the palace that houses the military operations center, officials said.

The prime minister's Dawa party issued a statement of condolences identifying the slain official as Salim Qassim, known by his nickname Abu Laith al-Kadhimi.

The strength of the resistance to the week-old offensive has taken the U.S.-backed government by surprise, forcing it to come up with a new tactical plan targeting several Mahdi Army strongholds, a government official said.

The official, who was in Basra but spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also had brought in reinforcements and appealed to local tribal leaders to help secure the area.



The prime minister, himself a Shiite, has called the fight "a decisive and final battle" and vowed to remain in Basra until government forces wrest control from militias, including the Mahdi Army that is loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

But al-Maliki also acknowledged Saturday that he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee the strong backlash the offensive would provoke in Baghdad and other cities where Shiite militias wield power.

Several clashes have involved U.S. forces and the U.S. military launched airstrikes in Basra. The military said 16 enemy fighters were killed in when an AC-130 gunship strafed heavily armed militants attacking Iraqi troops during clashes on Saturday.

U.S. and Iraqi troops also repelled an attack against American special forces Saturday in Suwayrah, a Shiite militia stronghold 25 miles south of Baghdad, killing 13 enemy fighters, the military said in a statement.

Never Under Saddam


Iraqi police said three militants were killed and 21 detained when clashes resumed there on Sunday.

The U.S. military said separately that American and Iraqi troops unearthed 14 badly decomposed bodies in a mass grave on Saturday in Muqdadiyah, northeast of Baghdad. It was the second such find since Thursday, when 37 bodies were found.

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The Iraqi Army And Police are starting to come along just fine. A little more training and some equipment and the Iraqi Army will get rid of all the crap and this will be the beginning of the end for US troop Involvement. THIS is what Victory starts to look like. WAY TO GO IRAQI TROOPS!!!!!

John McCain/Dick Cheney Pay Surprise Visit To Iraq

TROOPS RESOLUTE

FORWARD OPERATING BASE NORMANDY, Iraq — At the five-year mark since U.S. troops entered Iraq, warriors here continue fighting and dealing with the consequences.

It is doubtful that Army Capt. Vince Morris, a hard-charging company commander with the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment normally stationed in Vilsek, Germany, is tracking the anniversary debates. He is in a military hospital recovering from the severe concussion he suffered when his armored vehicle exploded immediately outside the entrance to this base, northeast of Baqouba.



Sgt. Rob Robertson will be working from his combat operations post — without television, radio or newspapers — in the town of Himbus, in Diyala's "breadbasket." He will be conducting foot patrols and searching for improvised explosive devices (IEDs), weapons caches and terrorists who went into hiding after a major U.S. and Iraqi push into the region in January.



When he is not on combat duty, he and other men of Iron Company will comb through scores of applications from people in his area wanting to join Concerned Local Citizens groups, the armed neighborhood-watch units renamed Sons of Iraq, which are viewed as a major contributor to increased security in parts of the country.



"What about this one, this Ahmed guy?" he asked a colleague recently while sitting in his tent. "He was a sergeant in Saddam's army."



Ahmed was photographed, questioned and fingerprinted during a recruitment drive. If he passes initial vetting, he could be given a midlevel leadership spot in a Sons of Iraq unit at $450 a month.



Capt. Matt Ross and Lt. Andy Teague of Golf Company are absorbed elsewhere. They are trying to persuade Sunni residents forced from their village by Shi'ite Mahdi militiamen — who also are thought to be members of the local Iraqi police force — to identify the culprits so they can be arrested.

"I showed [one of the displaced families] the book of photographs of the IPs," Lt. Teague told the captain, referencing the records of Iraqi police.



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ABC Finds Optimistic Iraqis & Kids Playing Safely on the Street

Bush: We Can't Jeopardize Gains in Iraq

IRAQI DOCUMENTS SHOW AL-QAIDA TIES
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I forgot to post this the other day. To all the Troops who have Served and are Serving...Semper Fi

I thought this was cool that John McCain and Vice President Dick Cheney payed the Troops a surprise visit on the 5th anniversary of the Liberation of Iraq. What a wonderful bunch of men and women we have Serving in the Military

Public Distrust Media's Iraq Coverage

Poll: Public Distrust Media's Iraq Coverage

Nearly half of Americans think the situation in Iraq is better than the national media are reporting, according to a recent poll, while significant majorities think the news media are damaging troop morale and prospects for victory.

The Sacred Heart University poll surveyed 800 Americans nationwide about media coverage of the Iraq war and about media trustworthiness in general. In most categories, the news media faired poorly among respondents.

The poll was released Jan. 8. It found that 49.1 percent agreed that "things are likely going better for the U.S. (in Iraq) than the U.S. media portrays."

After the poll was released this week, scores of military personnel have sent e-mails thanking the university, said Jerry Lindsley, director of the Sacred Heart Polling Institute.

"The facts are things are not great in Iraq, but there are good things happening," Lindsley told Cybercast News Service. "The news media presents the facts, but they don't present all the facts, such as the lower death toll, the hospitals being built, the soccer clubs and the women in the streets."

Lindsley said news consumers are finding much of this information in alternative media that reflect the positive trends in Iraq and are left wondering why the mainstream media - namely the network news, ABC, CBS and NBC - seem to be ignoring important stories.

Cybercast News Service has reported on the declining casualty rate in Iraq for the last several months.

Almost 60 percent of respondents said that negative media coverage damages prospects for success in Iraq, because it encourage terrorists, while slightly more than 70 percent think negative coverage damages troop morale.

Other polls have shown contrary results, said Kelly McBride, an ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute, a national journalism education organization. Having seen other polls that represent a public frustrated with Iraq and desiring a media that would play a larger watchdog role of the war, she questioned the poll.

"The point of covering a war is to inform the democracy that is paying for the war," rather than to boost morale, McBride told Cybercast News Service.

According to the Connecticut-based university, the poll was conducted between Nov. 26 through Dec. 5, 2007. The sample was "generated proportional to population contribution in all 50 states" and has a 3.5 percent margin of error.

The poll says military officials have a slight edge over the U.S. news media - 30.8 percent to 28.3 percent - when respondents were asked who they considered would provide the most trustworthy and balanced information about the war. Foreign news media came in third with 20.8 percent, and non-military government officials had the lowest trustworthiness with 4.8 percent.

The poll also touches on the familiar question of media bias, with 86 percent believing U.S. media organizations try to influence public opinion, while 45.4 percent think journalists and broadcasters have a liberal bias. Less than a third of the respondents said they believed that the media provided balanced coverage.



"Americans know bias and imbalance when they see it, and they don't like it," Lindsley said. "Americans know that it's just not that hard to present both sides and keep personal bias at home."

However, even some media critics question the poll.

"It's not so clear what they mean by media, with so many forms of media now, and I think you would find 100 percent of the people distrust some of the media some of the time," Cliff Kincaid, editor of the conservative Accuracy in Media Report, told Cybercast News Service.

The poll showed that for television news, respondents found Fox News Channel the most trustworthy, followed by CNN and NBC.

But considering the 24-hour cable news stations get a maximum of 2 million viewers, Kincaid wondered how relevant those numbers were (discounting NBC).

"People are getting their information in a variety of different sources and are coming to their own conclusions," Kincaid said.

Bias is really the result of the larger problem of a lack of resources in newsrooms that leads to less screening for bias and thus a less stringent commitment to accuracy as well, said McBride of Poynter. She said a story is entirely, factually accurate, but failure to tell the complete story could be considered bias.

Further, she thought the questions were weighted toward Fox News Channel by using the phrase "fair and balanced," the network's marketing logo, in the question. She also thinks Fox News, which respondents in the poll believed leaned to the right, approaches news coverage with a larger political agenda than most other news organizations.

"The poll implies the old theory that journalists are biased liberally and that there is a gap between professional journalists and mainstream Americans," McBride said. "Bias seeps into news reports not so much out of an ideological conspiracy as much as other factors. If a newsroom is too thin, and there is no one to screen for bias, of course bias will go through."

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Well DUH!! This is why most of us that blog about the war in Iraq do it because we NEVER get the good news coming from Iraq and I even have to include Fox News in this. Fox let's us in on more good news than the other Media networks, but it seems they even concentrate more on a bomb blowing up somewhere instead of a Hospital being built, or Iraqi kids going to school, or how the Iraqi's have sided with the Troops to help hunt down Al-Qaeda, and other insurgents. If this would have been WW2 there would be shouts of Treason against most of the media in the streets! Then again in WW2 people pulled together to defeat the enemy instead of protesting in the streets and yelling that President Roosevelt should be hung and wishing ill will on him. Or burning effigy's of our Soldier's in the streets. Can you picture that? I cant. I cant picture any of this nonsense going on in WW2. Anyway I will still give the Troops a SHOUT OUT, and TROOPS YOU ARE OUTSTANDING AND DOING A TERRIFIC JOB, AND THANK YOU!! :-)

Do Any Of The Democrat Candidates Remember Iraq?

Of Course Not!

Iraq Casualties in December Down 80 Percent From Year Ago

Combat-related U.S. casualties in Iraq were 82.9 percent less in December 2007 than they were in December 2006, according to an exclusive Cybercast News Service analysis of Defense Department data.

In December 2006, according to an analysis based on casualty reports released by the Defense Department, 82 U.S. military personnel were killed in Iraq as a result of enemy action. In December 2007, 14 U.S. military personnel were killed in Iraq as a result of enemy action. (Overall in December 2006, 90 U.S. military personnel were killed in Iraq, including not only those killed by enemy action but also those who died in non-combat-related accidents and for other reasons. In December 2007, 19 U.S. military personnel were killed in Iraq overall, including those who died for non-combat-related reasons.)

U.S. combat-related casualties in Iraq in December were the fewest of any month since March 2006.



At a Heritage Foundation forum last week, U.S. officials and national security experts credited the improving situation in Iraq to General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, for conceiving and implementing an effective counter-insurgency strategy, and to President Bush for following through with it.

Not everyone in the White House was keen on the troop surge, Mark Kimmitt, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Middle East Affairs, said during his presentation. He said some argued against a heightened U.S. military presence because they believed the troops would be exposed to escalating violence.

"No one last December [2006] had any idea we would see a Sunni awakening movement of such great scope and with such great effectiveness," he said. "No one expected the brilliant successes of our special forces against Al Qaeda in general. We have done better at the local level than we expected. But worse at the national level...The challenge for 2008 will be to link up these local efforts to the central government in a way that strengthens the latter while preserving the maximum space for local initiative."

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I have'nt heard one Democrat candidate for President mention any of the good news from Iraq. Oh they keep argueing "I didnt vote for the 'Surge'", or "If I did vote for the 'Surge' if I would have known what I know today I would'nt have voted for it", and alot of other crap. But I have'nt heard one of them say we have had outstanding success since the 'Surge' in Iraq. In fact I have'nt heard the Dem candidates mention Iraq at all, unless of course it's bad. We all knew if the situation turned around in our favor in Iraq it would pretty much be off the Democrat table. Well folk's it's happened. Iraq is now on the back burner. Now it's the "Economy" and how the Democrat's plan on destroying it!

BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament passed a benchmark law Saturday allowing lower-ranking former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to reclaim government jobs, the first major piece of U.S.-backed legislation it has adopted.

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Well what do you know? The Iraqi's passed an important benchmark in Iraq and no one even mentioned it. The Iraqi government is starting to make progress and nothing, no reports, only this little story. I guess that's why the Democrat's arent mentioning Iraq anymore!

Putin? Times Person Of The Year? This Is Bullshit!!!

This is really something, Vlad, Times Person Of The Year, My Ass.

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I think I am going to start my own person of the year.

Marie's Two Cents pick for person of the year 2007 is 'General David Patraeus'.



This man took what seemed like an impossible situation in a Country rampant with Insurgents from all over the Middle East, that wreaked havoc constantly and made life impossible to live on a daily basis for everyone who lived there.

Alot of people fled the Country as not to get thier family blown to bits by Al-Qaeda or influenced by the enemy and are streaming back home now because American and Coalition forces under General David Patraeus control has made that Country 90% stable again and calm is beginning to reign all over the Country, and that Country is Iraq.

The citizens of Iraq under General David Patraeus control work with the US Forces, turn in the enemy, and help to stabalize thier nation. That is called Progress!

The Iraqi Government who is now in the process of stabalizing thier own governing system since violence has almost ceased altogether are making progress.

I dont know anyone more deserving of Person Of The Year besides General David Patraeus for turning a losing situation into a win for the USA, the Coalition Forces and most importantly the Iraqi People.

By The Way, If any of you have a pick for "Person Of The Year", add it :-)

Reid/Pelosi's Houses Crumble-Democrats Blame Each Other For Failures

Democrats Blaming Each Other For Failures

AMERICANS CALL FOR PELOSI AND REID TO RESIGN

(This is truly rediculous, not only has the Congress enjoyed the Lowest Approval Rating In History, and havent gotten anything done (Except for a minimum wage increase), but now they are blaming each other, which is correct, there is enough blame to go around in the Democraticaly Controlled Congress for everybody. Their first 100 Hours has now turned into a year with nothing to show for it. Here a *snip* of a story I read today)

*snip*When Democrats took control of Congress in January, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) pledged to jointly push an ambitious agenda to counter 12 years of Republican control.



Now, as Congress struggles to adjourn for Christmas, relations between House Democrats and their colleagues in the Senate have devolved into finger-pointing.

Reid, in turn, has taken to the Senate floor to criticize what he called the speaker's "iron hand" style of governance.


Harry Reid D-NV 

"If there's going to be a filibuster, let's hear the damn filibuster," Rangel fumed. "Let's fight this damned thing out."

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) called it a "hold and fold" strategy: Senate Republicans put a "hold" on Democratic bills, and Senate Democratic leaders promptly fold their tents.

Asked about his decision on government funding, House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.) groused to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call: "I'll tell you how soon I will make a decision when I know how soon the Senate sells us out." Senate Democrats have fired back, accusing Pelosi and her liberal allies of sending over legislation that they know cannot pass in the Senate, and of making demands that will not gain any GOP votes. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) noted that, this summer, Reid employed just the kind of theatrics Rangel and other House Democrats are demanding, holding the Senate open all night, pulling out cots and forcing a dusk-till-dawn debate on an Iraq war withdrawal measure before a vote on war funding. Democrats gained not a single vote after the all-night antics.

"I understand the frustration; we're frustrated, too," Bayh said. "But holding a bunch of Kabuki theater doesn't get anything done."

Their support plummeted as the liberal base grew outraged over the Democratic inability to counter the president on any war issue, while moderates and centrists looking for bipartisan kitchen-table accomplishments instead saw partisan gridlock.

Reid has let his own frustration show. After Republican senators accused Pelosi of lying about her intentions on a comprehensive energy bill, the majority leader offered a backhanded defense.

"I can't control Speaker Pelosi," Reid said on the chamber floor. "I hope everybody understands that. She is a strong, independent woman. She runs the House with an iron hand. I support what she does, but no one needs to come and tell me I didn't keep my word."

Some days Reid and Pelosi get down to business and quickly settle cross-chamber disputes, but other times it requires a different touch to deliver certain messages. After Tuesday's Senate Democratic leadership meeting, Reid dispatched deputies to inform Pelosi that the Senate would not stand for the latest offer to eliminate earmarks, as well as all war funds, from a year-end omnibus spending package.

"When Harry's done talking, the conversation's over. Boom," the Democratic senator said, mimicking someone hanging up the phone.

The 60-vote threshold has become the flashpoint for the intramural Democratic dispute.

Republicans, who spent 12 years in similar battles, are just enjoying the spectacle.

"Just let 'em stew for a while," said soon-to-retire Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.), a veteran of the GOP's own squabbles.

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We warned you Democrat voters out there this would happen, but did you listen? NO! The sad thing is not only has Congress failed on ALL fronts, but they are taking America down with it.
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MEANWHILE: DEMOCRATS ARE LOST IN TIME ON IRAQ

Our view on war in Iraq:

Here is another *snip* of a story I read today

Surge's success holds chance to seize the moment in Iraq
Instead, Democrats are lost in time, Bush lowers the bar for Baghdad.
Iraq remains a violent place, but the trends are encouraging.

U.S. and Iraqi casualties are down sharply. Fewer of the most lethal Iranian-made explosive devices are being used as roadside bombs. In community after community, Sunni groups who were once in league with al-Qaeda have switched sides and are working with the U.S. forces.

On the Shiite side of Iraq's sectarian chasm, something similar is happening. About 70,000 local, pro-government groups, a bit like neighborhood watch groups, have formed to expose extremist militias, according to Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations.



Congressional Democrats, meanwhile, seem lost in a time warp. They could try to impose new benchmarks that acknowledge the military progress. Instead, too many seem unable or unwilling to admit that President Bush's surge of 30,000 more troops has succeeded beyond their initial predictions. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who in the spring declared the war lost, said last week that "the surge hasn't accomplished its goals." Anti-war Democrats remain fixated on tying war funding to a rapid troop withdrawal. Yet pulling the troops out precipitously threatens to squander the progress of recent months toward salvaging a decent outcome for the Iraqi's.

What's needed is acknowledgment that the surge is achieving what was intended: not complete military victory but enough stability to make political compromise possible.

So far, the Iraqis have missed just about every benchmark that Congress set early this year and Bush promised to enforce. According to the Generals on the ground all agree the Iraqi's need more time.

To some degree, the positive "bottom up" developments seem to be working. The Sunnis, for instance, have abandoned their political isolation and now want to participate in the government. But the Shiites' persistent resistance to letting them in makes a case for new, meaningful benchmarks, not trivial certainties such as simply passing a budget, one of the requirements the White House has set.

Military Progress has been a success. But More aggressive diplomacy of the kind advocated by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group would help — even a regional conference such as the one the United States recently hosted in Annapolis, Md., to restart Middle East peace talks.

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So Not Only has Congress failed, they are also in utter confusion over Iraq. They said "If there was good news out of Iraq, and the Iraq War was being won, it would be a very BAD thing for us Democrats". I guess the success in Iraq has thrown the Democrats into utter chaos! It's time to replace the entire Democrat Congress, because they arent capable of running a War On Terror, Protecting this Country, or getting anything done at all.

Dems Cave On Spending

Dems Bow to Bush Demands On Spending

Dems Stall Congress

Dems Blame Each Other For Failures

Last Taliban Stronghold In Afghanistan Falls To UN/USA Control

NATO Forces Push Into Taliban Stronghold

Kandahar, Afghanistan -- Residents fled their homes on Friday as NATO forces mounted an offensive to retake the southern town of Musa Qala, which has been a haven for Taliban fighters since British forces abandoned it in October 2006.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force announced it had mounted an operation along with Afghan army troops to retake the town in the southern province of Helmand.

Residents reached by telephone said people were evacuating Musa Qala after skirmishes began on the edge of the town and three bombs landed in the outskirts. Shopkeepers were packing up their goods because they were afraid of looting once Afghan troops arrived.

"The coalition troops are getting closer to Musa Qala town. They are just 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away," said Niamat Jan, a shopkeeper. "They dropped three bombs on the town. I don't know what the casualties were. All the entrances to the town have been blocked by them.

More than any other place in southern Afghanistan, Musa Qala has highlighted the difficulties and the mistakes NATO troops have made over the last two years in the face of a resurgent Taliban.

British troops deployed there in large numbers in the spring of 2006, but then made the mistake of trying to use small numbers of soldiers to protect district towns. They rapidly came under siege from Taliban fighters who poured into Helmand province in far larger numbers than had been anticipated.

The British have since been working to regain the upper hand, pulling out of places like Musa Qala and consolidating control of the central region around the provincial capital.

Since this spring, they have steadily been pushing outward from that central region, slowly securing key towns and districts and establishing Afghan forces to hold those areas before moving on.

Musa Qala was left alone even though commanders acknowledged that it was a haven for several thousand Taliban fighters. British troops pulled out under an agreement with local elders who were to ensure that Taliban fighters would also stay out of the town. But in February, just three months later, the Taliban overran the town and dismissed the ruling council of elders.

Since then, Musa Qala has become a base for Taliban fighters moving across northern Helmand and into provinces to the north. Large numbers of insurgents, including foreign fighters, flocked to the region.

Musa Qala is one of the only bases the Taliban hold, and it is not clear whether they will try to defend the town or pull back into the hills.

Afghan troops have been operating across northern Helmand since the beginning of November, the NATO statement said. Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, an Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, described it as a "massive multipurpose operation" in the north of Helmand province, Agence France-Presse reported.

"It includes a military operation, sweep-up operation, clearance, imposing the rule of law and providing an atmosphere for reconstruction," he said.

Residents reported fighting on the edge of Musa Qala on Friday.

"Several skirmishes have taken place nearby Musa Qala district," said Mahmood, a doctor living in the town, who uses only one name.

He said he heard a half-hour exchange of guns and rockets between NATO and Taliban forces in the afternoon.

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UPDATE:

As of December 11, 2007 Musa Qala, has fallen to the UN and American Forces!! The Last of the Taliban Forces in Afghanistan have fallen to UN/USA Control. The War In Afghanistan is just about over :-) Trying to find the story, will update as soon as possible.

JOHN MURTHA D-PA: THE SURGE IS WORKING, WHAT????

Murtha Changes Mind On Iraq

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), one of the leading anti-war voices in the House Democratic Caucus, is back from a trip to Iraq and he now says the “surge is working.” This could be a huge problem for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders, who are blocking approval of the full $200 billion being sought by President Bush for combat operations in Iraq in 2008.

Murtha’s latest comments are also a stark reversal from what he said earlier in the year. The Pennsylvania Democrat, who chairs the powerful Defense Subcommittee on the House Appropriations Committee, has previously stated that the surge “is not working” and the United States faced a military disaster in Iraq.

Back in July of this year Murtha said the following about the surge and Bush’s words that it’s working: “Well it’s delusional to say the least. As I said earlier, and you heard me say it, it’s a failed policy wrapped in illusion. Nothing’s gotten better. Incidents have increased. We have had more Americans killed in the last four months than any other period during the war.”



A top House Democratic aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Politico: “This could be a real headache for us. Pelosi is going to be furious.”

And rightfully so, of course, The sad part is that Pelosi will be furious with Murtha for him telling the truth. All evidence indicates that the surge is indeed working. That doesn’t mean that Iraq will be stable and peaceful within two months time, but it does mean that the strategy adopted by Bush this year is paying off and that it may be wise for the US to hang in there a while longer.

It also means that the Democrats were wrong.

And that they can’t deliver on their promise to withdraw the troops asap.

It’s amazing to see how the political landscape has changed. A couple of months ago Bush had no credibility left, Republicans were waiting to jump from the sinking ship… now, Democrats suddenly have a problem and a consensus is emerging that the surge is, truly, working. Suddenly, Republicans dont look so bad anymore do they?

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I am convinced there is NO WAY the Democrats can Run this Country, the War On Terror, National Security, or anything else at this point. Is this not the most Treasonous Turnabout by a Congressman you have ever heard?



MURTHA:
You low life, cowardly, scumbag! You were a nay sayer from the very beginning, you did everything you could to undermine and weaken our Troops and their families, which I happened to have been one not to long ago. You make me sick. You tried to drive down Troop Morale more than any former Veteran I have seen. You should'nt even be called a Veteran for turning on your own Countrymen during a time OF WAR!! You called our Troops "Murderers" "They are worn out, "They cant win this war" "They murdered Innocent Iraqi's In Haditha" (Which turned out NOT to be true) etc..etc..etc..

You know what? We knew all along the Surge would work and you tried to stop it. Our Troops will come home Victorious and that must gall you to death since you have been against this surge from the beginning.

You Know what Mr. Murtha? We supported our Troops all along this twisted road you assholes in Congress have put us on. You Havent. We have supported our Troops ALL ALONG, you didnt. You have put all Military families through absolute hell, You have played Political football with our Troops lives by bouncing around Troop funding for our Soldiers on the battlefeild, in harms way, NOW. As far as I'm concerned, you Mr. Murtha can kiss my ass! Because your opinion, nor any of the Democrats matters anymore! F*** YOU!!!

Democrats Changing Subject On Iraq As Success Is At Hand

On Iraq, Times Catches Democrats Changing The Subject

As success on the ground in Iraq becomes undeniable, reporter Patrick Healy sees a "tonal shift" among Democrats.

What gives? On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, some among the Times' liberal readership no doubt got early indigestion from the paper's front-page headline, "Baghdad Starts to Exhale as Security Improves."

This Sunday reporter Patrick Healy took the domestic political angle, looking at how the current success on the ground in Iraq is playing among the Democrats running for president, in "As Democrats See Iraq Gains, A Shift in Tone -- Domestic Issues Given a Heavier Emphasis."

"As violence declines in Baghdad, the leading Democratic presidential candidates are undertaking a new and challenging balancing act on Iraq: acknowledging that success, trying to shift the focus to the lack of political progress there, and highlighting more domestic concerns like health care and the economy."



"Lately, as the killing in Baghdad and other areas has declined, the Democratic candidates have been dwelling less on the results of the troop escalation than on the lack of new government accords in Iraq -- a tonal shift from last summer and fall when American military commanders were preparing to testify before Congress asking for more time to allow the surge to show results.

"This is a delicate matter. By saying the effects of the troop escalation have not led to a healthier political environment, the candidates are tacitly acknowledging that the additional troops have, in fact, made a difference on the ground -- a viewpoint many Democratic voters might not embrace."

It's quite a "tonal shift" for the Times itself, which just over a month ago declared in the lead sentence to a lead editorial:

"The news out of Iraq just keeps getting worse."

And liberal blogger Kevin Drum is "pissed off" about Healy's report.

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Beautiful Troop Tribute

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Well does'nt this figure? What will the Democrat's position be today on Iraq? THEY DONT HAVE ONE!! They have worked themselves into a real pickle. No wonder they are changing the subject.

Baghdad Exhales/ WAY TO GO TROOPS!!!

I CANT BELIEVE THIS MADE THE FRONT PAGE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES!!!

November 20, 2007
Baghdad’s Weary Start to Exhale as Security Improves

BAGHDAD, Nov. 19 — Five months ago, Suhaila al-Aasan lived in an oxygen tank factory with her husband and two sons, convinced that they would never go back to their apartment in Dora, a middle-class neighborhood in southern Baghdad.

Today she is home again, cooking by a sunlit window, sleeping beneath her favorite wedding picture. And yet, she and her family are remarkably alone. The half-dozen other apartments in her building echo with emptiness and, on most days, Iraqi soldiers are the only neighbors she sees.

“I feel happy,” she said, standing in her bedroom, between a flowered bedspread and a bullet hole in the wall. “But my happiness is not complete. We need more people to come back. We need more people to feel safe.”

Mrs. Aasan, 45, a Shiite librarian with an easy laugh, is living at the far end of Baghdad’s tentative recovery. She is one of many Iraqis who in recent weeks have begun to test where they can go and what they can do when fear no longer controls their every move.

The security improvements in most neighborhoods are real. Days now pass without a car bomb, after a high of 44 in the city in February. The number of bodies appearing on Baghdad’s streets has plummeted to about 5 a day, from as many as 35 eight months ago, and suicide bombings across Iraq fell to 16 in October, half the number of last summer and down sharply from a recent peak of 59 in March, the American military says.

As a result, for the first time in nearly two years, people are moving with freedom around much of this city. In more than 50 interviews across Baghdad, it became clear that while there were still no-go zones, more Iraqis now drive between Sunni and Shiite areas for work, shopping or school, a few even after dark. In the most stable neighborhoods of Baghdad, some secular women are also dressing as they wish. Wedding bands are playing in public again, and at a handful of once shuttered liquor stores customers now line up outside in a collective rebuke to religious vigilantes from the Shiite Mahdi Army.

Iraqis are clearly surprised and relieved to see commerce and movement finally increase, five months after an extra 30,000 American troops arrived in the country. But the depth and sustainability of the changes remain open to question.

By one revealing measure of security — whether people who fled their home have returned — the gains are still limited. About 20,000 Iraqis have gone back to their Baghdad homes, a fraction of the more than 4 million who fled nationwide, and the 1.4 million people in Baghdad who are still internally displaced, according to a recent Iraqi Red Crescent Society survey.

Iraqis sound uncertain about the future, but defiantly optimistic. Many Baghdad residents seem to be willing themselves to normalcy, ignoring risks and suppressing fears to reclaim their lives. Pushing past boundaries of sect and neighborhood, they said they were often pleasantly surprised and kept going; in other instances, traumatic memories or a dark look from a stranger were enough to tug them back behind closed doors.

Mrs. Aasan’s experience, as a member of the brave minority of Iraqis who have returned home, shows both the extent of the improvements and their limits.

She works at an oasis of calm: a small library in eastern Baghdad, where on several recent afternoons, about a dozen children bounced through the rooms, reading, laughing, learning English and playing music on a Yamaha keyboard.

Brightly colored artwork hangs on the walls: images of gardens, green and lush; Iraqi soldiers smiling; and Arabs holding hands with Kurds.

It is all deliberately idyllic. Mrs. Aasan and the other two women at the library have banned violent images, guiding the children toward portraits of hope. The children are also not allowed to discuss the violence they have witnessed.

“Our aim is to fight terrorism,” Mrs. Aasan said. “We want them to overcome their personal experiences.”

The library closed last year because parents would not let their children out of sight. Now, most of the children walk on their own from homes nearby — another sign of the city’s improved ease of movement.

But there are scars in the voice of a ponytailed little girl who said she had less time for fun since her father was incapacitated by a bomb. (“We try to make him feel better and feel less pain,” she said.) And pain still lingers in the silence of Mrs. Aasan’s 10-year-old son, Abather, who accompanies her wherever she goes.

One day five months ago, when they still lived in Dora, Mrs. Aasan sent Abather to get water from a tank below their apartment. Delaying as boys will do, he followed his soccer ball into the street, where he discovered two dead bodies with their eyeballs torn out. It was not the first corpse he had seen, but for Mrs. Aasan that was enough. “I grabbed him, we got in the car and we drove away,” she said.

After they heard on an Iraqi news program that her section of Dora had improved, she and her husband explored a potential return. They visited and found little damage, except for a bullet hole in their microwave.

Two weeks ago, they moved back to the neighborhood where they had lived since 2003.

“It’s just a rental,” Mrs. Aasan said, as if embarrassed at her connection to such a humble place. “But after all, it’s home.”

In interviews, she and her husband said they felt emboldened by the decline in violence citywide and the visible presence of Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint a few blocks away.

Still, it was a brave decision, one her immediate neighbors have not yet felt bold enough to make. Mrs. Aasan’s portion of Dora still looks as desolate as a condemned tenement. The trunk of a palm tree covers a section of road where Sunni gunmen once dumped a severed head, and about 200 yards to the right of her building concrete Jersey barriers block a section of homes believed to be booby-trapped with explosives.

“On this street,” she said, standing on her balcony, “many of my neighbors lost relatives.” Then she rushed inside.

Her husband, Fadhel A. Yassen, 49, explained that they had seen several friends killed while they sat outside in the past. He insisted that being back in the apartment was “a victory over fear, a victory over terrorism.”

Yet the achievement remains rare. Many Iraqis say they would still rather leave the country than go home. In Baghdad there are far more families like the Nidhals. The father, who would only identify himself as Abu Nebras (father of Nebras), is Sunni; Hanan, his wife, is a Shiite from Najaf, the center of Shiite religious learning in Iraq. They lived for 17 years in Ghazaliya in western Baghdad until four gunmen from Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence agencies say is led by foreigners, showed up at his door last December.

“My sons were armed and they went away but after that, we knew we had only a few hours,” Abu Nebras said. “We were displaced because I was secular and Al Qaeda didn’t like that.”

They took refuge in the middle-class Palestine Street area in the northeastern part of Baghdad, a relatively stable enclave with an atmosphere of tolerance for their mixed marriage. Now with the situation improving across the city, the Nidhal family longs to return to their former home, but they have no idea when, or if, it will be possible.

Another family now lives in their house — the situation faced by about a third of all displaced Iraqis, according to the International Organization for Migration — and it is not clear whether the fragile peace will last. Abu Nebras tested the waters recently, going back to talk with neighbors on his old street for the first time.

He said the Shiites in the northern part of Ghazaliya had told him that the American military’s payments to local Sunni volunteers in the southern, Sunni part of the neighborhood amounted to arming one side.

The Americans describe the volunteers as heroes, part of a larger nationwide campaign known as the Sunni Awakening. But Abu Nebras said he did not trust them. “Some of the Awakening members are just Al Qaeda who have joined them,” he said. “I know them from before.”

With the additional American troops scheduled to depart, the Nidhal family said, Baghdad would be truly safe only when the Iraqi forces were mixed with Sunnis and Shiites operating checkpoints side by side — otherwise the city would remain a patchwork of Sunni and Shiite enclaves. “The police, the army, it has to be Sunni next to Shiite next to Sunni next to Shiite,” Abu Nebras said.

They and other Iraqis also said the government must aggressively help people return to their homes, perhaps by supervising returns block by block. The Nidhal family said they feared the displaced Sunnis in their neighborhood who were furious that Shiites chased them from their houses. “They are so angry, they will kill anyone,” Abu Nebras said.

For now, though, they are trying to enjoy what may be only a temporary respite from violence. One of their sons recently returned to his veterinary studies at a university in Baghdad, and their daughter will start college this winter.

Laughter is also more common now in the Nidhal household — even on once upsetting subjects. At midday, Hanan’s sister, who teaches in a local high school, came home and threw up her hands in exasperation. She had asked her Islamic studies class to bring in something that showed an aspect of Islamic culture. “Two boys told me, ‘I’m going to bring in a portrait of Moktada al-Sadr,’” she said.

She shook her head and chuckled. Mr. Sadr is an anti-American cleric whose militia, the Mahdi Army, has been accused of carrying out much of the displacement and killings of Sunnis in Baghdad. They can joke because they no longer fear that the violence will engulf them.

In longer interviews across Baghdad, the pattern was repeated. Iraqis acknowledged how far their country still needed to go before a return to normalcy, but they also expressed amazement at even the most embryonic signs of recovery.

Mrs. Aasan said she was thrilled and relieved just a few days ago, when her college-aged son got stuck at work after dark and his father managed to pick him up and drive home without being killed.

“Before, when we lived in Dora, after 4 p.m., I wouldn’t let anyone out of the house,” she said.

“They drove back to Dora at 8!” she added, glancing at her husband, who beamed, chest out, like a mountaineer who had scaled Mount Everest. “We really felt that it was a big difference.”
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OMG! OMG! OMG! We got Al-Qaeda whooped!! WAY TO GO TROOPS WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Can we brake out the Champagne yet?

CONGRADULATIONS TROOPS!!!

Woooooooooooooooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooooooooooooo

Militant Group Is Out of Baghdad, U.S. Says

Believe it or not this is buried on page 18 of the New York Times!

American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the “surge” to depart as planned.

Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of United States forces in Baghdad, also said that American troops had yet to clear some 13 percent of the city, including Sadr City and several other areas controlled by Shiite militias. But, he said, “there’s just no question” that violence had declined since a spike in June.

“Murder victims are down 80 percent from where they were at the peak,” and attacks involving improvised bombs are down 70 percent, he said.

General Fil attributed the decline to improvements in the Iraqi security forces, a cease-fire ordered by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, the disruption of financing for insurgents, and, most significant, Iraqis’ rejection of “the rule of the gun.”

His comments, in a broad interview over egg rolls and lo mein in a Green Zone conference room, were the latest in a series of upbeat assessments he and other commanders have offered in recent months. But his descriptions revealed a city still in transition: tormented by its past, struggling to find a better future.

“The Iraqi people have just decided that they’ve had it up to here with violence,” he said, while noting that their demands for electricity, water and jobs have intensified.

Christians, Muslims Erect Cross In Baghdad


Michael Yon, Knoxnews

Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced families are returning to their homes, but a majority of them are still afraid to go back to neighborhoods now segregated by sect. “Clearly,” General Fil said, “it will take some time for Baghdad to restore itself to what it was.”

He and other military commanders have maintained for months that the conditions for national reconciliation have been met. They argue that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence agencies say is foreign-led, has been weakened. They cite in particular the rise of the American-supported citizen volunteers — 67,000 nationwide, according to military figures.

And though Sunni extremist groups could revive and “reinfest very quickly,” General Fil said, Iraq’s leaders should now have the peace they need to build a trusted, cross-sectarian government.

Soon, General Fil said, there will be fewer troops for the Iraqis to rely on. “Already we are at a point where we’ll see that as the surge forces depart the city, we’ll see a natural decline in numbers, and I’m very comfortable where that comes to,” he said.

With less than two months to go before his division heads home, General Fil offered a mixed vision of the military’s role for the coming year. He said that if 2007 was the year of security, 2008 would probably be “a year of reconstruction, a year of infrastructure repair, and a year of, if there’s going to be a surge, a year of the surge of the economy.”

He acknowledged that dislodging Shiite militias from control of gasoline, government ministries and other sources of power would be difficult.

The biggest threat to Baghdad’s security is now Shiite militias, he said. Infrastructure weaknesses and unemployment are also serious obstacles, which American efforts at the local level cannot fully address because “these become national-level problems,” he said.

American troops have recently focused more operations on the farm towns and dusty villages of the country, with the latest coming this week outside Kirkuk in the north.

The operations are aimed at maintaining what General Fil described as vital momentum. The greatest challenge of the coming months, he said, will be satisfying the delicate hopes and expectations of Iraqis, who see security not as an end, but just as a beginning.

Stability, General Fil said, “is within sight but not yet within touch.”

“Close, but not yet within touch.”


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What was that Dingey Harry? The War Is Lost? Our brave Troops have put up with the most vicious attacks we have ever seen in our own Country, they have been belittled, told they couldnt win, accused of horrible crimes most of them never committed, had stooges like the Code Pinkos and the Westboro Baptist Lunatics protest at the fallen Soldiers funerals, spit on Soldiers, and outright lie about our Troops. John Murtha and John Kerry calling them murderers. And through all the muk our Troops are coming out of this Victorious!! I am so Proud of our Troops I am going to hug everyone of them I see (I usually just shake thier hands) but they deserve hugs ALL of them. No matter if they have been to Iraq or not. And the next Code Pinko I see is getting slapped!!

Also Blogging:

Red S Tater

The Liberal Lie The Conservative Truth

Spark's From The Anvil

By The Way, Anybody Happen To Mention The War Lately? Of Course Not, We're WINNING!!!

Here are a few *snips* and links of some really good stories I saw this week about all the Progress being made in Iraq. Since The MSM Wont Tell You, I Will :-)

Only ABC Reports Military's Stats on
Violence Plunging in Iraq

Lt. General Raymond Ordierno on Thursday reported significant progress in reduced violence in Iraq, but of the broadcast network evening newscasts only ABC's World News bothered to cover the positive trend as anchor Charles Gibson introduced a full story on how "military officials gave one of the most upbeat assessments of the security situation in Iraq that we have heard since the opening months of the war." The CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly skipped the positive trend, but CBS had time for a story on the investigation of the September shooting of civilians by Blackwater and NBC aired a piece on Hillary Clinton "playing the gender card." The Washington Post and New York Times on Friday also made very different news judgments on the importance of the positive direction as the Post put the news on its front page while the Times hid it in a story, on an inside page, about Iran's role in Iraq.

Media Research Center
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IRAQ: Casualties Lower 5 Months Straight.


Kevin McCullough, TownHall
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Turning Point For America In Iraq

The United States is winning the war in Iraq with the objectives of President Bush’s military surge this year “largely being met”, General David Petraeus told Congress yesterday.

Speaking ahead of a desperate White House attempt this week to secure extra time for the strategy before the patience of the American public runs out, the US military commander in Iraq declared that uneven but substantial progress had been made this year.

He said that Iraqi forces were now able to “shoulder more of the load” and al-Qaeda had been thrown “off-balance”, particularly in Anbar province.

Citing US military figures that are disputed by some independent studies, he claimed that the overall level of violence and killing had fallen dramatically since the surge began. General Petraeus paid tribute to advice provided by British commanders on counter-insurgency tactics that were pioneered in Northern Ireland.

TimesOnline.Com
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Editorial Page In Denial Over Good News In Iraq

"The news out of Iraq just keeps getting worse," the lead editorial blares. Does that "news" include the 70% reported drop in violence since the end of June?

The Times, in denial over good news out of Iraq. Even the anti-war newswire Reuters has seen some light of late:

"Violence in Iraq has dropped by 70 percent since the end of June, when U.S. forces completed their build-up of 30,000 extra troops to stabilize the war-torn country, the Interior Ministry said on Monday."

Only the Times remains oblivious. Here's the lede to Tuesday's lead editorial, "Even Closer to the Brink," keyed to reports that Kurd guerillas are killing Turkish soldiers, with Turkey threatening to send troops into Iraq to counterattack.

"The news out of Iraq just keeps getting worse."

Putting aside the 70% drop in deaths, of course.

TimesWatch.Org

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Hat Tip To Sparks From The Anvil For the Photos

Violence In Iraq Drops Sharply: Ministry

Violence in Iraq has dropped by 70 percent since the end of June, when U.S. forces completed their build-up of 30,000 extra troops to stabilize the war-torn country, the Interior Ministry said on Monday.

The ministry released the new figures as bomb blasts in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul killed five people and six gunmen died in clashes with police in the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala south of the Iraqi capital.

Washington began dispatching reinforcements to Iraq in February to try to buy Iraq's feuding political leaders time to reach a political accommodation to end violence between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs that has killed tens of thousands and forced millions from their homes.

While the leaders have failed to agree on key laws aimed at reconciling the country's warring sects, the troop buildup has succeeded in quelling violence.

Under the plan, U.S. troops left their large bases and set up combat outposts in neighborhoods while launching a series of summer offensives against Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, other Sunni Arab militants and Shi'ite militias in the Baghdad beltway.

Reuters
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Bush: Iraqis Are 'Taking Back' Iraq

President Bush said Friday that U.S. military deaths have fallen to their lowest levels in 19 months and the Iraqi people are slowly "taking back their country" amid the American troop build up there.
Speaking at a graduation ceremony for new soldiers at Fort Jackson, Bush said that parts of Iraq continue to be violent and that terrorists remain determined.

"But what they have learned about the United States of America is that we are more determined," Bush said. "We are more determined to protect ourselves and to help people realize the blessings of freedom."

Bush said corruption remains a problem and unemployment remains high, but that Iraqi forces have now assumed responsibility in security in eight of Iraq's 18 provinces.

"With our help, the Iraqi people are going on the offense against the enemy. They're confronting the terrorists and they're are taking their country back."

Before he spoke, he took a tour of the school's "fit-to-win course," which requires recruits to negotiate up to twenty obstacles. He addressed about 180 soldiers at the site deep in the piney woods, telling them he was proud of their efforts and that they would help secure a peaceful future for America.

Video Here:
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We are WINNING this front in the War On Terror in Iraq and it's barely getting mentioned anywhere. Why am I not surprised? I guess it's up to us to Update everyone on what progress is being made in Iraq. What a Magnificent bunch of Soldiers we have. WAY TO GO TROOPS!!!!

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