Iraq update November 3, 2007

See, it's these kind of things that are going to force the Democrat presidential candidates to modify their Iraq stances. It'll be real enjoyable watching Edwards and Clinton, but Obama will have it easier as it'll be the first change in stance for him and he can paint it as a decision based on the change in the situation. Unless he is dumb enough to steadfastly stick to the losing side.

From Pat Dollard - Thousands Of Iraqis Moving Back To Baghdad

• BAGHDAD- In a dramatic turnaround, more than 3,000 Iraqi families driven out of their Baghdad neighborhoods have returned to their homes in the past three months as sectarian violence has dropped, the government said Saturday.

Also from Pat Dollard - The High Life Returns To Baghdad

• Smoking hookah pipes and drinking beer, Sarmad Ali joked and gossiped long into the night with a group of friends in Baghdad – a luxury they could not enjoy a few months ago because of the violence.

From MNF-I - Economic Revival Stimulating Baghdad’s Doura Region

• BAGHDAD — Bullet holes attest to the battleground that was this two-block portion of Doura. Just a few months ago, the residents were afraid to step outside, leaving their neighborhood riddled with garbage, without power and most of their shops closed.

From MNF-I - Iraqi Army, Volunteers, Cavalry Troops Celebrate Success in Ameriya

• BAGHDAD — Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, recently hosted a social gathering, including a cookout and soccer tournament, for Iraqi Army (IA) troops and a volunteer group from Ameriya, a neighborhood in the Mansour district of western Baghdad.

The Democrat presidential candidates can probably hold out a little longer as this stuff isn't reported by the MSM, but as soon as the MSM picks up on it, their hands will be forced. It's possible they will try and discount this kind of great news and say that the Iraqi politics are a failure and therefore we must still leave, but that one will be hard to sell to the "normal" American people, I would think.