The New York Times, the Surge, and September

From Mac’s Mind, his take on the amazingly positive story in The New York Times about the success of the surge in Iraq:

Back in June Harry and the Retreaters called the Iraq conflict lost and for all to pack it up and head home. Those with intelligence said, “Let’s wait, after all, General Petraeus has a report due in September”. Since that time — although the MSM refused to report on it — the success of the surge has been leaking out. Now in of all places the Ny Times, we get this report:

“Viewed from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with…”

His quote from NYT is much longer than that, but this snip gives you the positive note on which it was written. He goes on to say:

The article was written by Michael O’Hallen and Ken Pollack of the Brookings Institute who just visited the region, they report as many others that there has been progress — significant progress — and that the surge is working.

How Harry and the Retreaters must feel now, after resolution after resolution of defeatist moves to run away from Iraq — from the terrorists, not — I might add — for necessity, but purely to bow to their antiwar uber liberal base. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, anyone who calls for retreat from Iraq spits on the memory of every soldier who has given their ultimate to the success of the mission in Iraq.

That was yesterday. Today, Mac backs up to remind us:
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You’ll remember that I told readers a month ago that the reason Harry and the Retreaters were carping about getting out of Iraq is that they knew that the surge just might work. Nothing could be more embarrassing or disastrous to Democrats in 2008 than a stable — reasonability stable — Iraq.

Over the weekend as you know the Ny Times story by the liberal Brookings Institute showed that significant progress has been made in Iraq since the surge began. Of course liberals attacked the messenger — as they always do — trying to play down the significance, even calling into question the “liberality” of the authors.

Yet today we have even more. Yesterday, Hugh Hewitt interviewed Pulitzer Prize winner John Burns of the Ny Times who says the surge is working. Even Rep. Keith Ellison, fresh off his embarrassing — though fully intentional — gaff of comparing Bush with Hitler, after visiting Sheiks (debriefing alert) can’t say anything other than the surge is working, Al Qaeda is on the run.

So what does this mean for Democrats? What is going to happen in September when Petraeus comes back and reports that progress has been made? According to their Majority Whip James Clyburn, it could be disastrous.

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Now I’m going to tell you right off the bat that when Petraeus gives his report the left — specifically the uber left — will attack the general’s integrity, as lefty ambulance chaser Glenn Greenwald already has. Look for it, although the mainstream democrats will avoid that, nevertheless it will provide interesting drama.

Specifically with the Clinton/Obama dynamic. Obama has already sold out to the “Bush lied, people died” crowd and it’s basically his only appeal at this point. Hillary on the other hand is still playing “hawk”, at least on her initial vote for the war, which will leave her some wiggle room when the report shows that things might just work out after all.

In any case the Democrats have a problem on their hands and it’s all self inflicted.

As soon as I read the NYT article, I knew that we could forecast blood in the Senate in September when General Petraeus shows up with his report. First, there will be a “kill the messenger” attempt, which the General will side-step. Then there will be cries from the MSM, et al, that the surge is too little, too late.

The anti-war section of the Democrat party cannot afford to have Iraq succeed. There will be the same attempts at sabotage as there were when the troops secured Baghdad.

Wait and see.

Meanwhile, read Mac’s Mind for his embedded links, which I have not copied here. And there is a good post on our Crippled Intel.