Iraq update October 30, 2007

As it seems to be the belief commonly held that we've beaten Al Qaeda in Iraq and moved the mission over to the Shia militias that are doing the bidding of Iran, the Iraq updates will reflect more of that, although I believe we'll still have some reports of Al Qaeda smack downs.

According to Michael Yon's latest dispatch called The Perfect Evil: Coming to Roost

• The war is finally turning a positive corner here in Iraq. If Iraq continues to progress so rapidly, I will leave here in 2008, with plans to go to Afghanistan.

If he feels Afghanistan is now the place he needs to be to be reporting on the war on terror, Iraq must be shaping up nicely. He's been dead on all year in his Iraq reporting. Probably been dead on longer than that, but I just found his website in early 2007.

We should mull that one over a little. If Iraq is cleaning up rapidly and Al Qaeda there truly has no sanctuaries left, then what might need to happen? I think that, if Afghanistan is failing as he and others are reporting, then some more focus needs to go there. I'd point out that we can't cut out of Iraq to do that though. We need to make sure that Iraq continues to progress and are capable of keeping Al Qaeda out. If they can't get back into Iraq, then we go ass kicking big time in Afghanistan and Al Qaeda has huge problems.