Some Things Should Never Be Forgotten

It was two years ago yesterday that we approached a turning point in the Iraq War. The counterinsurgency plan, the initial phase of which had begun in February, was just coming to full implementation in April 2007. As we pushed into al Qaeda safe havens, al Qaeda pushed back with all the brutality they could muster.

In the days leading up to April 19, 2007, four members of al Qaeda did suicide bombing runs in Baghdad leading to tremendous loss of innocent civilian life. This was not an attack on our soldiers - it was directed at our political class, many of whom wanted nothing more than an American defeat in Iraq for their own purposes, irrespective of the tremendous damage such a loss would work on America's future, nor the galvanizing effect such a surrender would have had on al Qaeda and radical Islam.

It almost worked.

It was two years ago yesterday that Senator Harry Reid seized on these of acts of terrorism to proclaim the Iraq War lost and our military defeated.



As I noted at the time, this was a defining moment for the far left and "Give 'Em Surrender Harry". It was the moment all pretenses dropped to reveal in stark relief the far left's naked grab for political power at whatever cost to our nation. It is obscene that they have as yet paid no price for their craven and traitorous acts. To the contrary, they now hold all of the political power they desired.

That said, for all intents and purposes, we have won the Iraq war. Though V-I Day will await the pronouncement of historians, it clearly arrived some months ago - likely with the Iraqi Army's breaking of Sadr's strongholds in Basra. Iraq now has a nascent and functioning democracy. Normalcy has returned to much of the country as security continues to improve. There are still the major hurdles that Iraq must overcome - Kurdish seperatism and Iranian meddling top the lengthy list. But for today, those issues are not tearing the country apart.

History, if written with honesty, will note this hard won victory. History will note that we won because of the brilliance of our commanders, the quality of our soldiers, and the moral courage of President Bush to hold fast in the face of a massive push by the far left to declare the Iraq War a defeat for America. You'll never hear that from Obama, Reid or the radical left. They today are holding an eraser to the history books. But please don't forget it. History, if it is to teach us anything, must be honestly recorded. And there really must be a reckoning. For both of those reasons, please never forget.

[H/T Gateway Pundit]