Yesterday we showed the "vast right wing media conspiracy" that seems to plague the Democratic politicians every time they go on recess or vacation, showing how the media waits until the Democrats go away to start pumping out the good news from Iraq stories. (There are a dozen plus examples shown at the link above)
Today the media continues to give the paranoid more to be paranoid about.
Of late, Michael Yon has brought us some excellent news about Iraq, first showing a wonderful picture of Christians and Muslims placing a cross atop the St. John’s Church in Baghdad and then he brought us more visuals of Muslims sitting in that church and telling their Christian friends it was time to come home to Baghdad.
Now, we see from Times Online in "Road From Damascus" that "Iraqis are voting with their feet by returning home after exile".
The figures are hard to estimate precisely but the process could involve hundreds of thousands of people. The numbers are certainly large enough, as we report today, for a mass convoy to be planned next week as Iraqis who had opted for exile in Syria return to their homeland. It is one of the most striking signs that not only has violence in Baghdad and adjacent provinces decreased dramatically in recent months, but confidence in the economic and political future of Iraq has risen sharply. Nor is this movement the action of men and women who could easily reverse course and turn back again. Tighter visa restrictions imposed by Damascus mean that those who are returning to Iraq cannot assume that they could quickly retreat again to Syria if that suited them. This is, for many, a one-way decision. It represents a vote of confidence in Iraq.
The homecoming is not an isolated development. The security situation in Baghdad, while far from totally peaceful, has improved substantially in the past few months, with civilian fatalities falling by three quarters since the early summer. This has been reflected on the streets with markets, clubs and restaurants that had been closed for months, especially at night, now reopening. This good news has not attracted the attention that it should because critics of the conflict in 2003 and its aftermath have been extremely reluctant to acknowledge progress in the country. Yet even observers from publications long hostile to US policy in Iraq, such as The New York Times, are finally conceding that “the violence has diminished significantly since the United States reinforced troop levels in Iraq and adopted a new counter-insurgency strategy”.
The “surge” associated with General David Petraeus is indeed paying extraordinary dividends. The positive effects were seen in Anbar province, which had become a hotbed of Sunni resistance to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and are increasingly seen in the Iraqi capital. It has enabled Sunnis to disassociate themselves decisively from al-Qaeda in Iraq, in effect switching sides, while some of the extreme Shias linked to the rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have felt obliged to observe a ceasefire. All these fundamental shifts have allowed Iraqis the chance to rebuild an economy that, particularly with oil at its current price, should be among the strongest in their region. This opportunity has been recognised by exiles such as those who have been located in Syria. Iraq can only benefit from the return of some of its most talented citizens.
Another Times Online article gives us more information about the Iraqi's returning home:
Iraqi refugees are returning home in dramatic numbers, concluding that security in Baghdad has been transformed. Thousands have left their refuge in Syria in recent months, according to some estimates.
The Iraqi Embassy is organising a secure mass convoy from Damascus to Baghdad on Monday for refugees who want to drive back. Embassy notices went up around the Syrian capital yesterday, offering free bus and train rides home.
Saida Zaynab, the Damascus neighbourhoods once dominated by many of the 1.5 million Iraqi refugees, is almost deserted. Apartment prices are plummeting and once-crowded shops and buses are half empty.
The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) was scrambling to assess the transformation last night. An interim report is expected today. “There is a large movement of people going back to Iraq. We are doing rapid research on this,” a spokesman said.
In Wapo today, page A-17, written by David Ignatius, I see something that I want to point out:
Thanksgiving day is a moment to celebrate the news from Iraq of declining violence and increased security. But it's also a time for honesty and humility about what this good news portends.
The signs of improvement in Iraq are clearer every week. The latest numbers show a 55 percent drop in attacks since the surge of U.S. troops reached full strength in June, and a 60 percent drop in Iraqi civilian casualties since then. This translates into the beginning of a return of normal life, with people going to restaurants, taking walks, having weddings. The New York Times bannered this human story across its front page this week: "Baghdad Starts to Exhale as Security Improves."
Only someone with a heart of stone would not rejoice at this news......
The reason I stopped there and put emphasis on that last line because it brings us to those that do have hearts of stone because they are not only refusing to rejoice for the Iraqi people, but they are trying to ignore the progress and success and are still doing everything in their power to change this course, and that is their words.
Those people are Democratic politicians and their supporters, the same politicians that refused to fund out troops while they are doing so well for no other reason than to stop the trend of progress and success we are seeing, effectively abandoning our troops as punishment for not failing.
Hat Tip to Strata-Sphere.
From Aviation Week, "Obey, Murtha Vow To Resist War Funds Without Compromise."
Leading House Democratic appropriators vowed Nov. 20 not to bless off-budget supplemental appropriations that President Bush requested for Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere until he compromises and agrees to conditions that have already garnered a veto threat.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) and defense appropriations subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.) declared they would support Bush's entire $196 billion supplemental request immediately if the president concedes to House-passed provisions concerning troop readiness, CIA interrogations and a goal of troop withdrawal from major Iraq operations by the end of next year (DAILY, Nov. 19).
They said administration efforts to achieve political progress in Iraq have fallen short while the military, increasingly strained by prolonged operations, has to draw down ground forces there and reset. But Bush chose to "surge" troops into Iraq instead of embracing the Baker-Hamilton commission's recommendations last year.
"The money is not the issue; the lack of a plan is," Obey told reporters at a Capitol Hill conference.
Lack of plan.
LACK OF PLAN????
Have they been under a rock the last few months? Are the incapable of reading? Can they not see the plan that is being used now, the change of course that came along with the surge, is WORKING?
Maybe one of their staffers can explain this to them since they are too incompetent to understand what has been happening while their heads were stuffed firmly in their butts.
Obey actually thinks that political games and jumping threw hoops is more of a "lan" than getting behind the success that everybody BUT the Democrats is seeing.
"By undermining our troops' progress in this way, Congress risks having al Qaeda stand back up," Boehner added. "For the sake of generations to come, this is an irresponsible decision Congress simply cannot afford to make."
Obey noted that if enough Republicans and Democrats in the House wanted to bypass his chairmanship and move the supplemental funds, there are two ways they could, but he declined to "map" the procedures.
No worries, Boehner, the Republicans and the Blue Dog Democrats that want to keep the seats they just won, will bypass his obstinate desire to force failure on America.
These words from AJ Strata should be a warning shot across Obey, Murtha, Pelosi and Reid's bow:
Petraeus was right the Surge worked. Everyone can see it. Those out to “betray us” are the fanatics on the far left who want to REVERSE things in Iraq. The record is clear. There is no Vietnam coming (just like there are no Nixons running the NSA - duh!). There is no quagmire. Success is at hand. And anyone who messes with that success will get the blame! Surrendercrats are so blinded by their frustration at their own impotence they don’t even realize they face the same dilemma as al-Qaeda.
Captain's Quarters makes this point:
Clearly, the Iraqis know something significant has changed in Iraq. Even if one wants to suggest that Petraeus decided to trash his career by lying to Congress and that the Pentagon somehow sees benefit in throwing away the lives of its soldiers to cover up a debacle, Iraqis themselves have no interest in lying to the world and marching back to death. Their return demonstrates their understanding that the situation has dramatically shifted in favor of freedom and liberty and away from terrorism and war. No amount of spin can explain this away.
Exactly, the pictures that Yon has brought us and pictures like the one above of Iraqi's smiling and returning home, are what the Democrats now have to look at while they are on their vacation.
While the Iraqi's have much to be thankful for during and while those of us that are actually giving thanks that things are getting better to the point that they can go home and be free, the Democratic politicians and supporters are not thankful at all this Thanksgiving for success and progress in Iraq, they are bemoaning it, denying it and trying to forcefully "change the course" from success to failure.
BBC is reporting that 1,000 people a day are returning across the border to Iraq:
An estimated 1,000 people a day are returning across Iraq's borders having previously moving abroad to escape the violence, Iraqi authorities say.
The New York Post has a great 3 page piece giving the five reasons we are seeing the success and progress in iraq that we are.
#1. We didn't quit:
#2. Gen. David Petraeus took command
#3. The surge
#4. Fanatical enemies
#5. The Iraqis are sick of bloodshed and destruction
Read the whole thing.
We also showed you yesterday the ramifications and the ways the Democrats have chosen to punish our troops and their families for daring to succeed in the job we have sent them to do. (There is a list of Senators that have abandoned our troops at that link)
Look at it closely and if you are angered by their abandoning our troops when they are doing so much, so selflessly and so successfully, then CALL OR EMAIL YOUR SENATOR starting Friday morning, and insist that they fund our troops with no strings attached.
Be polite, be courteous and let them know they will not be reelected if they do not start supporting our troops with their actions instead of mouthing the words then turning around and stabbing them in the back.
So, Democrats, hows that vacation going for you now?
It is about to get worse for you.
Related:
Blue Star Chronicles with more on Murtha the defeatist.
[Update] Go take a look at how the reconstruction efforts in Iraq are working out. Main page here and news releases here.
This is the news not being reported.
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