Iraq at a Tipping Point

The Washington Post identifies the new problem facing Iraq now – capitalizing on the peace. A lot of WaPo readers might be confused on this one, given that WaPo told us all about the unwinnable civil war in its front page stories, then went through a period of near news blackout, before now coming out with stories that have, as their underlying premise, that Iran is experiencing peace. The confusion of such readers is certainly understandable. This today:

Senior military commanders here now portray the intransigence of Iraq's Shiite-dominated government as the key threat facing the U.S. effort in Iraq, rather than al Qaeda terrorists, Sunni insurgents or Iranian-backed militias.

In more than a dozen interviews, U.S. Military officials expressed growing concern over the Iraqi government's failure to capitalize on sharp declines in attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. A window of opportunity has opened for the government to reach out to its former foes, said Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the commander of day-to-day U.S. military operations in Iraq, but "it's unclear how long that window is going to be open."

Read the entire article. The new Dem narrative is that the Iraqi politics are not working, and therefore we should declare defeat while we still can. This particular WaPo article reinforces that position, but it is also valid. It is not a call to retreat, rather it is the identification of a tipping point. And now is when we need Democrats and Republicans to be doing their utmost to influence events on the ground in Iraq, as money and programs become more important than the military at the tipping point. That should be the President’s message when he vetoes the next Reid-Pelosi-Murtha legislative attempt at declaring defeat.