The TWO Reports

The first being the Petraeus report. That one's getting tons of effort and emotion in attacking and defending it. I like the fact that the anti-war surrender monkey's are investing all that energy and time into attacking it, as it's not winnable ground, in my opinion. Petreaus is on the high ground which also happens to be a mountain built of facts. On the flip side though, the people in the right have to expend the same energy in defending it.

I think they took up the wrong fight, though. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad they took up the wrong fight, but they're missing the real deal. And, that is...

The Crocker report. The decision on whether we stay or leave should hinge on this one. If Petreaus is bringing security to Iraq, and it certainly seems indisputable that he is, then will that bring any political gains? I've reread the Crocker report to see if there's an answer there. To summarize what he says as best I can:

The major issues holding up legislation from the central government is Federalism and States rights. Something we all understand. We are witness to what it takes for Iraq to figure out what Iraq is going to be. The Iraqi's are the only one's who can sort this part out. Until they do though, legislation from a central government will be real difficult. Progress is being made here though as, without legislation in place, revenue sharing is happening. Also, without legislation, amnesty is happening. These are two major issues that lead to nationalism. Benchmarks are being met without the legislation being even written or put into law yet. Our Congress wants to call this a failure.

Crocker explains this well on his observation of Al Anbar province. The largest gains politically have come there. Gee, the largest gains in security had just happened there too.

All isn't a bed of roses. There are major hurdles for the Iraqi people to overcome. Crocker believes that a peaceful Iraq that's at peace with it's neighbors is attainable. Iran and Syria need to be addressed though. But, all in all, looking at this report, it would be real hard to say the right way forward is to pull all of our troops out.

Someone tell the anti-war surrender monkeys to go spend their energies on getting us out of Okinawa or Germany. Haven't we finished up those two operations yet?