Here's a short summary of where we stand today. Barely four months after decapitating one of the most bloody and oppressive regimes on the planet:
We are scoring huge victories against light resistance from the dwindling remnants of the fascist Baath regime. We are taking light casualties among our all-volunteer forces--indeed, are inflicting almost ten times as many casualties as we're taking. Reports from soldiers in the area are also generally pretty positive, with no more than the usual amount of grumbling that's common to all members of the armed forces. Indeed, to read some of them, you'd have a hard time knowing they're in a war zone if they didn't tell you.
Furthermore, people from all over Iraq are deeply grateful and are, according to some reporters, mostly afraid we'll leave too soon. Beyond just the impressions of some reporters to that effect, in fact, polling shows that a majority of Iraqis firmly want us to stay for a minimum of a year longer.
Despite the pocket resistance we are encountering, the overwhelming majority of Iraq is peaceful. Only in a few small portions of the country are we experiencing any resistance at all. Peace and order are the rule of the day.
The infrastructure and day-to-day lives of ordinary Iraqis continues to improve rapidly, already meeting or exceeding pre-war levels in most of the country. Moreover, democratic reforms are moving ahead very quickly, and are doing much better than many people expected. About a hundred different newspapers are being published. Schools, hospitals, clinics, and shops are open for business.
On the whole, things are going splendidly. Pocket resistance is being mopped up, casualties are light, and Iraq is recovering rapidly. Indeed, it's doing much better than either Germany or Japan were in the first few years after World War II, in just about every area--including, by the way, in the area of establishing democratic rule and civil reform within a pluralist framework.
Funny how you don't get that impression from a lot of the news coverage, isn't it?
* Update * Oh yes, I forgot to mention, terrorism continues to decline in frequency, continuing a months-long downward trend both in the mideast and worldwide.*Update 2* You should also read this. And, this too. All written by soldiers on active duty.
Hey Dean you communist bastard you ought to be put in a concentration camp with all the jew rats and bring our troops home to get it started. The gall of you calling Maureen Dowd a racist she is the only thing worth reading in that stinking JEW york times
Goodness!!
Well, I thank you for the collection of articles and the general summary and perspective you've provided.
You might want to also check in at Samizdata from time to time, as they're receiving updates from a "source" in the field in Basra every few days. Fascinating stuff. The latest is here.
I was about to delete Mr. May's rant, but then I hesitated: I couldn't figure out if he was being sarcastic or not and, either way, I began to suspect that leaving it there was probably more productive anyway.
Isn't that an incredibly optimistic way of looking at the current situation in Iraq.
This light resistance that you speak of has taken 16 lives in the past 10 days. 3 more injured in this report.
About the opinion poll
Need I say more. Also, I don't think the troops score any points when they hold women and children hostage."Infrastructure and day-to-day lives of ordinary Iraqis continues to improve rapidly" That’s if they don’t get killed by task force 20
Call me a pessimist (or anything you wish) but things aren’t beginning to improve, yet.
I'm with Neeraj........be careful when you quote that "people from all over Iraq are deeply grateful", when your source is Gigot in the WSJ........not an objective source, Dean.
Uhm, I did quote more than Gigot...
Dan,
Well, lets just say that after reading Mr. Gigot for a couple decades now, I've never found him to lie - unlike the New York Times, BBC, Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, Reuters, CNN, etc, etc, etc...wherein we get our anti-war reporting.
"Isn't that an incredibly optimistic way of looking at the current situation in Iraq.
This light resistance that you speak of has taken 16 lives in the past 10 days. 3 more injured in this report. "
Weren't some against the war claiming that our response was unnecessary because after all 40,000 Americans a year die in traffic accidents? Interesting how perspectives change.
I guess the trick is to have each group of complainers stick to a single message. Each can be used in turn and discarded as changing circumstances dictate. So Bush can be attacked both for "overreacting" to 3,000 deaths and for a "lack of concern" of a few hundred deaths.
mj,
That was very wicked of you - and I've warned repeatedly about using logic; it causes some people to go into vapor lock.
Hey Eugene E may....
f u if you're being serious
Oh yeah...
and where are you anti-war guys on this whole Liberia issue huh? Oh thats right... it doesn't matter that a whole country is killing itself, just as long as no more then 10 American Soldiers die and there are no civilian deaths...
Get a realistic grip on life. People die and war is tough and deadly. There isn't a shake and bake fix for this. I agree with Dean on all he said above.