Allahu Ackbar!

BALAD, Iraq – Two Al Qaeda in Iraq and Islamic State of Iraq members wearing suicide vests self-detonated during an Iraqi Special Operations and Coalition forces operation Nov. 16.

The suspected terrorists died during an ISOF operation to disrupt AQI/ISI activities in the Diyala province.

Both of the assailants detonated their suicide vests approximately 100 meters from the ground force. “No one from ISOF or CF was hurt during this operation.

Not quite the same as ’sploding, but, still humorous. Anyone know how many virgins are left in Paradise?

In other Iraq news, the brave Coalition troops keep mopping up the jihadi’s, who would have, in collusion with Iran, been in control of Iraq had Obama and the other Defeatocrats had their way.

Nominee for the “Let’s Tone It Down To Nap Time” headline award, the LA Times is a sure winner: U.S., Iraq fatalities dip in October

The number of Iraqis killed in war-related violence in October was the lowest since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, Iraqi officials said Friday.

The death toll was 278, including 22 policemen and 18 Iraqi soldiers, according to the Ministry of Health. In addition, 46 suspected insurgents or militiamen were killed, and 846 were arrested, Iraqi government officials said.

The number of U.S. troops reported dead in October was 13, equal to the low recorded in July, according to independent website icasualties.org.

What, the LA Times couldn’t go to the Department of Defense? Sad commentary in itself, eh?

And, to call it a dip is to ignore not only the tremendous strives in Iraq, but the body of the story itself!

The monthly totals are evidence of the dramatic drop in violence across Iraq in recent months. In October 2007, 888 Iraqis were killed in war- related violence, and there were 38 U.S. military fatalities. The decrease in violence has been attributed to several factors, including the deployment last year of an extra 30,000 American troops to quell sectarian fighting, and the setting up of Sunni Arab paramilitary units to work alongside U.S. and Iraqi forces in providing security.

So, that Surge thang that McCain pushed for and most Democrats, including Senator Barack H. Obama, were against, has worked. Furthermore, setting up the paramilitary units, otherwise known as the police and military (nice dodge, LA Times), was part of the original plan. Anyhow, notice that this is a “dramatic drop,” not a “dip.” In fact, more Marines were killed in motorcycle accidents in the USA then killed in Iraq over the past 12 months.

And from ye olde AP

U.S. deaths in Iraq fell in October to their lowest monthly level of the war, matching the record low of 13 fatalities suffered in July. Iraqi deaths fell to their lowest monthly levels of the year. Eight of the 13 Americans died in combat, most of them in northern Iraq where al-Qaida and other Sunni insurgent groups remain active. The U.S. military suffered 25 deaths in September and 23 in August. (snip)

The sharp drop in American fatalities in Iraq reflects the overall security improvements across the country following the Sunni revolt against al-Qaida and the rout suffered by Shiite extremists in fighting last spring in Basra and Baghdad.

But the decline also points to a shift in tactics by extremist groups, which U.S. commanders say are now focusing their attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police that are doing much of the fighting.

Wait. How’d that get in to print? It almost seems like the AP is saying that the overall plan to turn Iraqi security over to the Iraqi’s has worked.

Meanwhile

Rebuilding schools is a top priority for Multi-National Division – Baghdad to eliminate terrorist and criminal activities and set the condition for a brighter future for Iraqi youth.

Al Tajadud school in the Adhamiyah District of Baghdad reopened, Oct. 26, after undergoing a two-month-long renovation. With $220,000 from the government of Iraq, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division facilitated the rebuilding of this important infrastructure.

Progress.

Well, I can find this story in international papers, and small U.S. ones, but, none of the big U.S. news sources, other then the Washington Post. I wonder why?

The commander of US military forces in Iraq has accused Iran of trying to bribe Iraqi legislators into rejecting a security deal with the US.

Gen Ray Odierno told the Washington Post that many intelligence reports suggested “pay offs” were being made, but that he had no definitive proof.

The US and Iraq governments are negotiating a security pact to allow US forces to stay beyond the end of 2008.

See, now, if I was one of the Reality Based Community, I would probably blame this on Obama, and suggest that the Obama campaign is behind this, in order to damage what we are doing in Iraq. But, I’m not. What we are seeing is the continued attempts by Iran to impose influence over Iraq. Imagine had we followed the “redeployment” plans of Obama and other Democrats.

And, how about Obama’s no preconditions for talks buddies in Iran think about talks?

Vice President for Media Affairs Mehdi Kalhor said on Saturday that Iran has set two preconditions for holding talks with the United States of America.

In an exclusive interview with IRNA, he said as long as US forces have not left the Middle East region and continues its support for the Zionist regime, talks between Iran and US is off the agenda.

It is the Americans who are in dire need of reestablishing ties with Iran, he underlined.

Iran is not obliged to reestablish ties with the US, he said.

“If they take our advise, grounds for such talks would be well prepared,” he said.

It is stupidity to hold talks without any change in US attitude, he underlined.

Of course, Kahlor is only one voice, and a small one, and even a president Obama wouldn’t be that dumb to listen to those conditions. I hope. One never knows what kind of surrender post-Vietnam Democrats will accomplish.

Hmm, I wonder if the rest of the Credentialed Media will cover this story of an obvious Logan Act violation, which goes much, much more in to detail then the original New York post editorial by Amir Taheri (visit Wizbang and Hot Air for some of the original breakdown). Washington Times: Obama tried to sway Iraqis on Bush deal (FYI, the Wash Times is having some connectivity issues today)

At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn’t be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval.

Mr. Obama’s conversations with the Iraqi leaders, confirmed to The Washington Times by his campaign aides, began just two weeks after he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in June and stirred controversy over the appropriateness of a White House candidate’s contacts with foreign governments while the sitting president is conducting a war.

Two important points there. First, the Barry camp has confirmed that Obama was violating the Logan Act, and second, that it started well before Obama was goaded in to making a foray to Iraq.

Mr. Obama spoke June 16 to Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari when he was in Washington, according to both the Iraqi Embassy in Washington and the Obama campaign. Both said the conversation was at Mr. Zebari’s request and took place on the phone because Mr. Obama was traveling.

However, the two sides differ over what Mr. Obama said.

“In the conversation, the senator urged Iraq to delay the [memorandum of understanding] between Iraq and the United States until the new administration was in place,” said Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States.

So, here we have an issue, according to Ambassador Sumaidaie, of Obama meddling for purely political purposes. It sure says something about Obama’s character, leadership, and judgement, eh?

On one hand, the Surrender Monkey is not amused. It really does not help the cause of the Defeatocrats to talk about The Surge having worked in The Paper Of Record. On the flip side, there is nothing Surrendie loves more then a surrender to the inevitable

Market by market, square by square, the walls are beginning to come down. The miles of hulking blast walls, ugly but effective, were installed as a central feature of the surge of American troops to stop neighbors from killing one another.

“They protected against car bombs and drive-by attacks,” said Adnan, 39, a vegetable seller in the once violent neighborhood of Dora, who argues that the walls now block the markets and the commerce that Baghdad needs to thrive. “Now it is safe.”

The slow dismantling of the concrete walls is the most visible sign of a fundamental change here in the Iraqi capital. The American surge strategy, which increased the number of United States troops and contributed to stability here, is drawing to a close. And a transition is under way to the almost inevitable American drawdown in 2009.

Huh? The Surge has worked? Maybe someone should tell That One, who still thinks that The Surge was a failure, and has created any and all talking points to force an artificial redeployment out of Iraq, even saying he would send the troops to Afghanistan. Anyone who believes that he would really do that is basically Andrew Sullivan insane.

“The Iraqi security forces are now able to protect Iraq,” said Joaidi Nahim Mahmoud Arif, a National Police sergeant in Dora, in southern Baghdad. “They will depend on themselves above all.”

I’ll grant that the Coalition top leadership really blew it once the initial war was over, but, now, as we move the troops our of Iraq responsibly, the possibility of a free and democratic Iraq is bearing fruit. Do the Dems still want to lose it?

The Coalition forces and Iraq government bring into light something that was woefully missing during Saddam Hussein’s long rule

“Iraq was the first country to introduce laws to the world and now it is important to bring back the rule of law to Iraq,” said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at yesterday’s opening of the Rusafa Justice Palace in Baghdad.

With a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Prime Minister Maliki officially opened the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-built $11.3 million new-construction facility. Members of the Higher Judicial Council and judicial members, Coalition forces, security teams and more than 30 international media crowded the central courtroom to overflowing to listen to the Iraqi judicial officers in the Justice Palace.

Prayers from the Koran and a moment of silence in the courtroom for all those judges and judicial workers who have been killed in past years under Saddam and during the turmoil of the past years led off the array of speakers.

Iraqi Chief Justice Medhat referred to the importance of the Justice Palace in establishing the rule of law in Iraq. Medhat gave thanks to the Coalition forces and a special recognition to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the workmanship and diligence.

Could this have happened with Saddam in charge? Could this have happened even pre-surge? They call it the justice center, but, it is more about turning Iraq into a country of law, rather then a county of will.

Guess who supported the Surge and who was for abandoning it to the will of Islamic animals?

When I first heard the audio of Barry’s speech on Rush Limbaugh’s show while driving from a staff meeting, I was floored. I wasn’t sure I heard it correctly. And, being so busy today, I had no chance to check till now.

Barry’s speech was a litany of consistent “we suck, we aren’t winning in Iraq, The Surge hasn’t worked, let’s vamoose. He also had a little blurb about it being our fault for fighting back that Islamic extremists want to kill the Infidel (”In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, I warned that war would fan the flames of extremism in the Middle East, create new centers of terrorism, and tie us down in a costly and open-ended occupation.”) You can listen and watch some of it, but, check out at 1:10

What he said

But understand what the essential argument was about. Before the surge, I argued that the long-term solution in Iraq is political – the Iraqi government must reconcile its differences and take responsibility for its future. That holds true today. We have lost over a thousand American lives and spent hundreds of billions of dollars since the surge began, but Iraq’s leaders still haven’t made hard compromises or substantial investments in rebuilding their country. Our military is badly overstretched – a fact that has surely been noted in capitals around the world. And while we pay a heavy price in Iraq – and Americans pay record prices at the pump – Iraq’s government is sitting on a $79 billion dollar budget surplus from windfall oil profits.

Glad Mr. 57 States has a solid grasp on the number of American soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq.

I’m tempted to pick apart the rest of the speech, including his idiotic windfall profits for the Iraqi’s stupidity, but, after that gaffe of epic proportions on the troops, just one more. Paragraph 12

This is a war that we have to win. And as Commander-in-Chief, I will have no greater priority than taking out these terrorists who threaten America, and finishing the job against the Taliban.

Barry does realize that the Taliban was not the group who attacked us, right? And that the Taliban is much less a threat to America then Saddam Hussein was, right? And that Al Qaeda is a separate group, right? And, while they gave shelter to Al Qaeda, they really had nothing to do with implementing 9/11, right? And that Al Qaeda is a worldwide group, right? Maybe Barry could pick someone who has more actual foreign policy and anti-terrorism experience and knowledge then himself. Someone like Paris Hilton or Britney Spears.

PS: Barry also had a little hissy fit

“I will let no one question my love of this country. I love America, so do you, and so does John McCain. When I look out at this audience, I see people of different political views. You are Democrats and Republicans and independents. But you all served together, and fought together, and bled together under the same proud flag. You did not serve a red America or a blue America -– you served the United States of America.”

Guess Free Speech is out under an Obamafuhrer reign.

I wonder how many Credentialed Media sites will publish this story? CBS picks up the AP story, July Sees Lowest US Death Toll In Iraq

The monthly U.S. toll in Iraq fell to its lowest point since the war began, with at least 10 American deaths as July drew to a close Thursday after the departure of the last surge brigade.

Iraqis also are dying at dramatically lower numbers with the war in its sixth year. July saw the lowest civilian toll since December 2005, though a series of suicide bombings this week and rising ethnic tensions in northern Iraq reflect the fragility of the security successes.

An Associated Press tally shows that at least 510 Iraqi civilians and security force members were killed in July, a 75 percent drop from the 2,021 deaths in the same period last year as the U.S. troop buildup aimed at quelling rampant Sunni-Shiite violence was nearing its peak.

Excellent. And, if Barry Obama and so many other Democrats had had their way, the United States would have slunk away like a mongrel pup with its tail between its legs. Has The Surge worked, Barack? Hello? Messiah? Messiah? Messiah?

And which candidate supported and pushed for the strategy to allow the US to win in Iraq?

Reuters has a similar story, which the New York Times sort of picked up.

From McClatchy Washington

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq isn’t buying the increasingly popular idea of a publicly stated timetable for American troop withdrawal.

Gen. David Petraeus, the Iraq commander, said in an interview with McClatchy that the situation in Iraq is too volatile to “project out, and to then try to plant a flag on, a particular date.”

With violence at its lowest levels of the war, politicians in both the United States and Iraq are getting behind the idea of a departure timetable. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was first, suggesting he would have combat troops home within 16 months of Inauguration Day. The idea got a big boost during his overseas trip, when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki indicated support for that general timeline.

Look, timelines are smart, when they are linked to conditions on the ground, when they, have concrete goals, and when they are not published to the enemy. I certainly hope that the government and the military have timelines. But, I do not need to know them. I do not necessarily trust the government, but, I do trust the military. And, I think they know what is going on better then folks who simply read the papers, and when it is best to say Aloha to Iraq.

Keep an eye on the comments section for the story: the moonbats are invading. One of them is cute, in that Patraeus should just keep his stupid military mouth shut. Typical.

Usually, I start this type of story out with “I bet you think this was found in the Credentialed Media” or “I wonder if the CM will cover this,” or something to that effect, and the story comes from a source such as Operation Iraqi Freedom. In this case, THE main newspaper component of the Credentialed Media, The New York Times, actually is the one writing the story. When these stories do appear in the Times, it is usually Saturday, and I have the theory that that happens because all the editors start their martini weekends early Friday after a long week of bashing Bush, America, McCain, Republicans, etc. But, to appear in the Sunday edition? Impressive

The militia that was once the biggest defender of poor Shiites in Iraq, the Mahdi Army, has been profoundly weakened in a number of neighborhoods across Baghdad, in an important, if tentative, milestone for stability in Iraq.

Would we have seen a story like that just 6 months ago? Certainly not on page A-1. And certainly not describing the Mahdi Army, which the Credentialed Media seemed to be rooting for, as a criminal enterprise later in the article.

It is a remarkable change from years past, when the militia, led by the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr, controlled a broad swath of Baghdad, including local governments and police forces. But its use of extortion and violence began alienating much of the Shiite population to the point that many quietly supported American military sweeps against the group.

OK, so the Times can’t quite give credit to the United States military and The Surge. Liberals are still liberals.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki struck another blow this spring, when he led a military operation against it in Baghdad and in several southern cities.

He did? While I do not want to take credit away from Maliki, has the Times heard of The Surge?

It is part of a general decline in violence that is resonating in American as well as Iraqi politics: Senator John McCain argues that the advances in Iraq would have been impossible without the increase in American troops known as the surge, while Senator Barack Obama, who opposed the increase, says the security improvements should allow a faster withdrawal of combat troops.

It is fun how clueless Liberals are. I guess it is only John McCain who says The Surge, which the Times cannot even capitalize, has been the main cause of the decline in violence and the Mahdi Army. Sigh. Reality Based Community.

And Barry, like any good liberal worth his weight in arugula, uses the security improvements as a means to call for redeployment.

The changes are not irreversible. The security gains are in the hands of unseasoned Iraqi soldiers at checkpoints spread throughout Baghdad’s neighborhoods. And local government officials have barely begun to take hold of service distribution networks, potentially leaving a window for the militia to reassert itself.

The Iraqi’s are almost there. Very close. Just a little more time. After all that we and the other Coalition forces have done, isn’t it worth it to give just a bit more time to the endpoint, rather then washing our hands of it? Or do Democrats really want a replay of our exit from Vietnam?

But, getting beyond the biases of the Grey Lady, the Times should be shown a little bit of kudos for printing an article that shows that The Surge has worked, things are coming together in Iraq, and the end point, ie, a stable Iraq, with a democratically elected government, and a military and police force which can stand on their own, is almost here.

Even The Associated Press thinks the US is winning a war that was once lost (at least lost in their minds.) And Michael Totten defines victory in Iraq.