Moderate Democrats are split because of the progress that has been seen, the progress that Reid and Pelosi are still in denial about.
In a face to face interview with The Australian, General Petraeus described some of the dramatic changes in Iraq since the surge began.
They include but are not limited to:
**Dramatic reduction of sectarian killings.
**Drop in the number of roadside bombings.
**Killing or capturing of al-Qaeda fighters, causing the terrorist group to lose influence with local Sunnis.
**75 per cent reduction in religious and ethnic killings since last year.
**Doubling in the seizure of insurgents' weapons caches between January and August.
**US forces are pursuers instead of defenders.
**Religious-related deaths would be down to a quarter of what they were last December by the end of August.
Remmber Harry Reids words about the "surge" accomplishing nothing, back in April?
The war in Iraq "is lost" and a US troop surge is failing to bring peace to the country, the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Congress, Harry Reid, said Thursday.
"I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Reid told journalists.
He said that before the full compliment of troops had even arrived and he has been shown to be completely wrong, so now the new "party line" for the far left Democrats is that there is no political progress being seen.
al-Maliki proves Reid wrong again.
Despite criticism far and wide about the Iraqi Parliament going on vacation, we said that they would be working behind the scenes as was evidenced by al-Maliki courting the Sunni's last week.
Hat Tip to Captain's Quarters and memeorandum, we see that Iraq's top Shi'ite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish political leaders have reached consensus on some key measures.The agreement by the five leaders was one of the most significant political developments in Iraq for months and was quickly welcomed by the United States, which hopes such moves will ease sectarian violence that has killed tens of thousands.
But skeptics will be watching for action amid growing frustration in Washington over the political paralysis that has gripped the government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore congratulated Iraq's leaders on the accord, hailing it in a statement as "an important symbol of their commitment to work together for the benefit of all Iraqis."
The apparent breakthrough comes two weeks before U.S. President George W. Bush's top officials in Iraq present a report that could have a major influence on future American policy in Iraq.
"I hope that this agreement will help Iraq move beyond the political impasse," Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih told Reuters. "The five leaders representing Iraq's major political communities .... affirmed the principle of collective leadership to help deal with the many challenges faced by Iraq."
Maliki's appearance on Iraqi television with the four other leaders at a brief news conference was a rare show of public unity.
I said earlier today the al-Maliki was right on target to criticize Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin's undiplomatic words about him.
In power less than a year he needed to learn and was working behind the scenes to make headway toward the benchmarks we have established.
Looks like it is Iraq itself that will provide the September surprise for Americans.
Yesterday the rally in front of Reid's office showed incredible support for our troops and their mission and in mid September when General Petraeus makes his report he will have a number of organizations there on the hill supporting him, the troops and their mission.
Vets For Freedom, a group of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans as well and Move America Forward, whose rally ends at the capitol on September 15th as well as many other groups and organizations that are joinng with them.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.)has already said that good news from Iraq would be a problem for the Democrats in Congress and the Senate and that is where they stand right now. In between a rock (their far left liberal base) and a hard place (progress being seen in Iraq), they have left themselves in a spot they cannot get out of.
As significant as what Clyburn said is the way he said it. According to Clyburn, a strongly positive report by Petraeus would be "a real big problem for us." Clyburn's candor may be commendable, but it's unfortunate that the Dems regard strongly positive news from Iraq as a problem.
Listening to Harry Reid right now on Cspan2, he is still trying to deny reality and encourage retreat in defeat in Iraq.
His own politicians cannot even support him anymore after they have returned from Iraq, Brian Baird being just one example, his op-ed piece saying "The Troops have earned more time" will be used against Reid and the surrender crowd in the next few weeks.
Reid and Pelosi are going to have an even harder time trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and your calls into them on a daily basis to tell them to quit playing their political games and start rooting for victory and helping our troops attain it instead of working actively against them, will help tremendously.
Contact your congressmen.
Contact your Senator.
President Bush was in Iraq yesterday and if you watch the video you will see how our troops feel about politicians listening to the polls in media rather than the conditions on the ground for their political agenda which is more important to them than our country and seeing victory in this war on terror.
[Update #4] Kudos to Hot Air for leading us to the YouTube video of Bush's speech from Iraq.[End update]
Text of the President's speech can be found at the White House Website.
(If you do not want to listen to the whole 7:19 minutes of the speech, (video above) move the bar to the 5 minute 50 second spot, or where it shows 1 minutes, 30 seconds left of the video where President Bush says:But I want to tell you this about the decision -- about my decision about troop levels. Those decisions will be based on a calm assessment by our military commanders on the conditions on the ground -- not a nervous reaction by Washington politicians to poll results in the media. (Hooah.)Listen to our troops with that Hooah and understand what they think about nervous politicians listening to polls instead of conditions on the ground.)
We are finally starting to see the progress and success that we all have hoped for and Reid and Pelosi will not be allowed to take that away from America, our troops, our allies or the Iraqi people.
I promise you Harry "Baghdad" Reid, you will have a fight on your hands.
Our troops fight for us, for our safety and for oour country and we WILL FIGHT FOR THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Update] More news from Iraq from Debbie at Right Truth.
Al Qaeda is planning a new offensive in Iraq using martyrs, as the Parliament returns to work.
Go. Read. As usual she has the latest.
The read Yid with Lid's awesome piece.
(NOTE: Instead of leaving you with the advertisements I usually have at the bottom of each post, I will leave you with one of the videos from Freedoms Watch) [30 second video.]
Another Wounded Veteran speaks about anger at Congress and Victory:
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