The New Plan

So in reading the major papers this morning, I kept thinking to myself, "George, please don't read the papers this morning, they're a downer."

David Ignatius sees congress wanting to send our President a big kiss of "No confidence" as a way of re-gaining power. What the hell? They've been asking for a "change" for years now. Well.........
Bloodthirsty Liberal sees reality in this. "Soldiers as Pawns" is the title of his post. Ending with "God help us".

The Kurds are mad. (no advance knowledge before the attack of the Iranian terrorist hideout in Kurdistan)

The Washington Post has these headlines:
Bush Iraq Plan Meets Skepticism on the HIll
Intelligence Chiefs Provide Bleak Assessment
Bush Falls Flat with Iraq Speech

There were others about people not supporting him and protest marches throughout the land etc.

So how is it that Amir Taheri finds Iraqi support and encouragement for the plan? And Captain Ed finds Arabian allys behind the plan?

A reader can get very confused. It makes you really wonder about this country and the people in it. Do we really want to go back to isolationism? And do people really think that we will then be left alone? The only thing that is going to swing this is going to be another major attack on this country. That's the completely sad thing. I will follow this president whereever he wants to lead because I truly believe he is looking at what is best for us all in regards to this war. Can reasonable people disagree? Sure. But they're wrong. If Iraq falls to Islamists after Bush leaves office this country is going to be seeing war close up and I will post a big "I told you so" blog. I hope I don't have to do that.

Saddam

Is dead. Apparently some folks think it "doesn't matter". ie
From the LATimes:

The execution of Saddam Hussein doesn't matter as much as it once might have.

and from: The NYTimes

The growing chaos and violence in Iraq has steadily overshadowed the torturous rule of Mr. Hussein,

However, in Iraq, Iraqis, apparently are feeling a little differently as they remember this guy who is responsible for babies being shot in the head.
From the Mesopotamium

Anyway, I am too excited to talk more, and it is very late and I, like almost all Iraqis at this hour, cannot sleep and are all awaiting the awesome announcement at this eve of the Eid Al-Adha.

and from Healing Iraq

I hope the execution of the tyrant brings relief to the families of his victims.

But the BEST column today that I've read is this one by Ralph Peters.

Again, we can be proud that the United States of America brought him down. And that no dictator can ever feel entirely safe again.
President Bush changed the world. For all of today's carnage and confusion, and despite the appalling policy errors after Baghdad fell, the future will show that the change was for the better.

AMEN!

Amiri's death

The Washington Post today has an article on the Sadr aide who died in a raid yesterday in Najaf. The raid was an Iraqi plan

Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, the top U.S military spokesman in Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad that the raid was led by 35 soldiers from the 8th Iraqi Army Division Forces, with eight U.S. troops serving as advisers.

"It was an Iraqi-led, planned operation consistent with the fact that Najaf now has been passed to provincial Iraqi control and that the U.S. forces don't operate there independently," he said.

but somehow Maliki is going to be hurting from it.

A raid involving American forces in Najaf is particularly embarrassing for Maliki. Last week, in an elaborate ceremony, the U.S.-led coalition handed over control of Najaf to Iraqi forces.

"The agreement between the two sides when the security profile was transferred to the Iraqi side is that the Iraqi side should know about any operations or actions done by the multinational forces," said Sadiq al-Rikabi, a political adviser to Maliki.

Maliki, if he wants to maintain his position has just been forced into the proverbial corner. He needs to say - "the plan was what the Iraqi forces say....they wanted to question Amiri, he ran, pointed a gun at one of our men and was shot for it." Otherwise, it will be his army doing an end run around him.

We'll see how political expediency works there.

How things are going in Iraq

Major Bill Edmonds is a soldier in the Army special forces and shares his story of his year in Iraq. His job:

On this small plot of land where I live, next to the Tigris River, in the very center of an Islamic metropolis, I help find and then interrogate terrorists alongside the Iraqi officer whom I advise and with whom I also live.

His concern:

But for a year I have also been an observer of an immensely complicated situation. I am a soldier who fights alongside Iraqis, and I interact daily with and hear the words of Iraqi soldiers, civilians and insurgents alike. Through their eyes I see the strengths, foibles and faults of my military and culture.

Read it!

So what is the balance between taking charge in Iraq and/or abandoning the country? Our best response is to pull the American soldiers back and push the Iraqi soldiers/policemen forward as quickly as possible. I feel the urgency of this mandate as I type these very words on this small Iraqi base among Iraqi soldiers. As I told Ibrahim, the captured insurgent, "I want to leave your country. The only reason I stay here is because Iraqis are dying and you insist on fighting. All we want to do is to help."

I naturally assumed he understood this. Well, he had not, and most do not. This message is one that is lacking and one that Iraqis surely need.

Iraq Study Group

Charles Krauthammer finds the ISG as laughable as I do.

Syria should stop infiltration, declares the report. And Iran "should stem the flow of equipment, technology, and training to any group resorting to violence in Iraq." Yes, and obesity should be eradicated, bird flu cured and traffic fatalities, particularly the multi-car variety, abolished.

and Secretary Rice made it clear we're not negotiating concessions with Syria and Iran.

saying the "compensation" required by any deal might be too high. She argued that neither country should need incentives to foster stability in Iraq.

Yeah.

Soldiers

They respond via Op-For to those who want us out of Iraq now.

Iraq Study Group

This is the best article I've seen on the Iraq study group proposals. It's laugh out loud funny. A taste:

The problem in Iraq is that Iran and Syria are arming, funding, and encouraging Sunni and Shiite insurgents? Well then, all we have to do is to convince Syria and Iran to stop supporting these insurgents.

The problem in the region is that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict inflames anti-American sentiment? Well then, all we have to do is to convene a conference to negotiate peace in the Middle East.

See how simple that was? It's amazing that no one ever thought of these ideas before the Iraq Study Group came along. But no, don't thank them. It's all in a day's work for Captain Obvious.

In the meantime, a new poll is out saying that Americans think we're losing the war in Iraq and we should follow the proposals of the ISG to change course.
In the meantime, the newspapers continue to write crap. No one should ever wonder why Americans think the proposals of the ISG are "fundamental changes in course".

The bipartisan Iraq Study Group last week issued a report calling the situation in Iraq "grave and deteriorating," while recommending fundamental changes in how the Bush administration handles the war.

Fundamental changes?? Like what? Like "As the Iraqi's stand up, we'll stand down"?
This report essentially said that Bush is moving in the right direction. He knows he's out of office in 2008. He cares about the Iraqi people and their country. Do you think that he doesn't want us mostly as advisors by 2008? Of course he does and of course he's been moving in that direction. Ok, you're right. He had no intention of negotiating with Iran. And he had no intention of making Israel disappear to save the situation. But other than that?
Even Syrian negotiations have been hinted at. As have threats to Iraq that we'll just go home.
I mentioned JayWalk yesterday from the Jay Leno show. People get their information from the news. The news takes whatever the first newspaper said and then runs with it throughout the country. In this case, the ISG will save us all if only the stubborn Bush will follow the recommendations.

Kofi and Iraq

I didn't bother linking to the story out of the UN the other day where Kofi suggested that the average Iraqi's life is worse now than under Saddam, because it was too stupid for words.

Today however, Mohammed at Iraq the Model takes Mr. Annan (or as he calls him Kofi al-Tikriti) down. A taste:

He simply can't generalize the situation the way he did; did he consider Kurdish mothers and wives when he made that statement? Did Erbil, Basra or Kirkuk send a letter to Kofi blaming him for not stopping America from toppling Saddam?

Iraq Study Group

Captain Ed notes both Guiliani and McCain's responses.

Rudy Giuliani called some of the ISG's recommendations "useful", but told Dennis Prager that leaving Iraq would be a "terrible mistake", while John McCain scotched the notion of a regional conference dominated by two terror-supporting states:

Amen.

Sergeant Boggs shares his opinion with Powerline readers.

The Iraq Survey Group’s findings or rather, recommendations are a joke and could have only come from a group of old people who have been stuck in Washington for too long.

Go read it. It's from someone who's been there twice now.

If I get a chance, I'll read it today for commentary tomorrow.

The Iraq Study Group

You all remember Stay the Course. And just what was that course? From all I've ever heard, including that article about from July of 2003 it was:
Help the Iraqi's build a functioning democracy that they run themselves.

So why on earth does today's NYTimes story about the Iraq Study Group claim that

members of both parties in Washington have come to the conclusion that a significant change in course on Iraq is needed.

? And that change of course?

According to members of the panel, the group concluded that American forces in Iraq should make a major shift in priorities over the next year, largely withdrawing from combat in favor of beefing up the training of Iraq forces. It also called for stepped-up diplomatic efforts — including talks with Iran and Syria — not only to stabilize Iraq but to revive the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, news services reported.

I would not say that a shift in priorities makes a change in course. The object in the end is a stable democracy of Iraqis running their own country. I'm not at all sure why the study group is calling for diplomatic efforts with Iran and Syria who are both promoting a war in Iraq. But even that I wouldn't call a "change in course".

A change in course would be switching from pushing for democracy to pushing for a kingdom.
A change in course would be switching from pushing Iraqis to self government to insisting that Iraq become an unincorporated territory of the US, like Puerto Rico.
A change in course would be switching from a unity govt there to proposing 3 new nations.
A change in course would be switching from US involvement to Nato involvement.
A change in course would even include giving guns and ammunition to every adult there, standing back and saying may the strongest win.

The Iraq Study Group is "staying the course".

Terrorists

Iraq the Model shares a problem going on in Baghdad. From a poster:

In response to demands from the honorable teachers and beloved students and to protect them from the Rafidhi [Shia] government and the death squads it endorses, it has been decided to cancel all studies for this school year in Baghdad exclusively

Ansar Al-Sunna

Yeah right, in response to "demands from the teachers". Baloney. Here's a little rundown about who Ansar Al-Sunna is via The Jawa Report. Headline:

Ansar al Sunna Kills 3 Iraqis on Video

Iraq

I hardly ever watch the evening news, but had it on last night. The sense of the news broadcast was about how badly things were going, how Bush has no authority left, how everything is going to rot in Iraq.

I actually took a moment to think "have I got it so wrong? Am I just getting all my news from people with skewed outlooks?" Then I shook it off and decided that even if they were correct, I choose to think otherwise because they just can't be right. They just can't. (That would be my keen sense of logic working by the way.)

Today Instapundit links to Bill Roggio who is now embedded in Iraq. The short little snip on Glenn's site is enough to confirm, the evening news is whacked. Here's a taste:

While waiting to manifest on the flight to Fallujah, CNN played a news segment of President Bush announcing there would be no “graceful exit” from Iraq, and that we'd stay until the mission was complete. Two sergeants in the room cheered. Loudly. They then scoffed at the reports from Baghdad, and jeered the balcony reporting.

and here is Bill's post. Read it and keep updated.

Iraq Symposium

Instapundit has the first round up, and Mark Steyn just happened to write a piece that would go along regarding the Iraq Study Group.

Good stuff.

UPDATE: Here is another excellant column by John Podhoretz regarding the plan.

Iraq Symposium

Now is your chance!
Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit is asking for

I'm going to try a blog symposium on Iraq, Iran, and Syria. I want some new ideas --

What do you have for him?

Here's mine:
Let me preface this whole post with "I am not in the military, I don’t read military books, and I hardly ever watch war movies. In other words, I don’t know jack. But this sounds like a good plan and Glen Reynolds was asking!"

I would start in the training.

First I would increase the pay scale for anyone willing to follow this plan.
- I would start by taking those that volunteered for this out of their own neighborhood and into a barracks. They would live with and among American military.
-I would give Iraqi Police, Iraqi military and US military working with Iraqis accelerated classes in Iraqi history, the greatness of the entire country, why the British partitioned them as they are, the accomplishments of the Sunnis, the Shias and the Kurds. I would include the crap they’ve had to put up with from Saddam, Iran and Syria. I would not include anything to do with Israel or the US. I would include the friendly relations we’ve had with Iraq over time.

Then I would team people up one on one. Iraqi army guy with US army guy etc. Those two would shadow each other throughout their 4-6 months of training. The US military is strong and proud and knows about civility and treating people respectfully and treating superiors all the way up to the ranks properly. They are proud of the work they do and should be. The Iraqi’s would feed off of that. They would get to a point where they too are proud of their country, AND (not or) religion/sect. They would be proud of the work they do and quit selling themselves short to the lowest, most fanatic bidder. Would there be a communication problem? Sure. But everyone works in units and each unit would have a translator of sorts. Much can be communicated without words.

After training, the first real work done would be away from each person’s own home/neighborhood.

After that the police can go to their home stations to work and the military would go where needed throughout the country.

Anyone – anyone caught lying, cheating, stealing, embezzling, bribing or in any way acting unbecoming to their stations would be fired from the police or put in the brig or whatever they do in the military. This would apply whether in this new group of trainees or the ones currently working.

After each round of recruits is put into the area of militias such as Sadr city, I would oulaw those militias. Any militiamen would be welcome to join the service the normal way but if caught out and about, harassing civilians, killing, kidnapping etc they would be shot. And if, for example the leader such as Moqtada al Sadr doesn’t dismantle these militias, he himself will be arrested for harboring fugitives or something.

On to Iran and Syria: As weapons are coming across the border from Iran and Syria I would work to convince Maliki to start making noises about declaring war on them himself. He can freeze assets, cut off business ties, whatever. Then we, the US can start making noises about allying ourselves to Iraq. With any luck that war never comes but if it does it gives the Iraqi’s a different enemy than each other or us. One they’ve fought and won in the past.

Problems with the plan: (sure, there are a few)

Iraqis are hard pressed to leave their families during these hard times. The new pay scale has to be big and the US military not involved in this training needs to be showy so that civilians are safer than they are now.

Convincing the NYTimes not to print headlines like “Iraqi trainees being coerced into listening to American propaganda”.

Convincing Maliki to outlaw Moqtada. I’m not sure why this would be so hard if the newly trained Iraqi’s prove themselves in other areas first

Convincing the Democrat controlled Congress to back the Iraqis if it comes to the real war going on with Iran/Syria vs the US. Like I said, with any luck there would be no real war.

Convincing Maliki we really would be there for them against Iran or Syria. If we are ever to protect Israel and Lebanon we will have to be there but I am no longer certain that the American people are up to it.

Convincing the American people to win this thing and not run before it's over.

See? There are a few problems. But as to the Iraqis and Iraq:

Sure there are rotten eggs in any organization but folks who serve in uniform are generally there as the sheepdogs to us sheep. Those sheepdogs are tougher, stronger, meaner, and prouder and when they do their job right and with dignity they only get tougher, stronger, meaner and prouder. The Iraqis can do it. Moqtada's militias and Hezbollah's fighters are not the sheepdogs. They hide amongst civilians and blame others for their problems. They act like wolves feeding off us sheep. In the end, sheepdogs win. And they will.

Iraq Study Group

John Podhoretz is just aghast at the ISG's recommendations. (from the Washington Post)

John's is full of outrage:

Baker, Hamilton and their crew of old Washington hands (and I mean old, like Metheuselah-level old) are recommending a "gradual pullback" of American troops but without a timetable. That basically translates into a nice, long, slow defeat - the "graceful exit" of which the president spoke so harshly.

I read both of those articles, and other than the part where the ISG recommends negotiating with Iran and Syria the recommendations sound exactly like the big plan all along. Fight al-Qaeda, get Iraq to stand on it's own two feet, maybe end up with a friendly nation in the middle of the Middle East. As a matter of fact the only thing different is, as Uncorrelated says:

Sounds like the original plan. Except it doesn’t have the twin lightning rods of Bush and Rumsfeld saying it.

or as the Mudville Gazette says

That sounds like a 360-degree about face to me.

It sounds like we will be "staying the course" for now and for that I am thankful.

Now if the MSM could start acting like this is a positive thing and writing like we're winning...........

(Did you note the capture of the Baghdad Sniper the other day? Or that 11 key members of Ansar al Sunna [a bunch of beheaders] had been captured? )

Burning

Michelle Malkin continues to follow the story on the burned Sunnis.

Her re-cap:

Two unnamed Associated Press reporters get new acounts from three unnamed witnesses (who, of course, refuse to be identified by name--although the AP has no problem describing some weirdly specific details about their ages, occupations, ethnicity, and religions) about six burned-alive Sunnis, five of whom no one can name and whose bodies can't be disinterred in an investigation because it would violate Islamic law. And of the two original sources who claim the incident happened, one has recanted and the other is someone whom the military and Iraqi officials maintain is not who he says he is.

She also links us to this blog by Jim Hoft that included a reminder that the AP also mentioned 4 burned Mosques where only 1 was burned.

Iraq acting Sovereign, Bush to Blame

This story in the LA times today was interesting.
Maliki wants a) more control over his forces, b) faster training of his people, c) bigger and better weapons d) talks with Syria and Iran.

Maliki's emboldened stand comes at a time of uncertainty for U.S. strategy in Iraq.

While the process may be accelerated due to Democrats in office and Bush leaving in 2 years, this sounds like the exact US strategy that we've been working on. Get the Iraqi's to take care of themselves. Isn't it?

This cracked me up:

"If the Americans withdraw, the fighting will stop," Iraq's most revered Sunni cleric, Harith Dhari, said in Jordan, where he met with Abdullah in the run-up to the summit. "Once Americans make the decision to withdraw, whether it is in one or two years, we can go to the resistance and tell them you have what you have been fighting for."

If you can go to the resistance and tell them the Americans will leave in 2 years and you have what you want, then why can't you go to the resistance and tell them that the Americans will leave as soon as the resistance stops killing their own people? Pulease.

In other news, the famous NYTimes has leaked MORE classified information. Though I have to say with all the leaking going on, I'm personally going to start calling it "President Bush's special way of getting out the news without actually having to talk with reporters."

The memo presents an unvarnished portrait of Mr. Maliki and notes that he relies for some of his political support on leaders of more extreme Shiite groups. The five-page document, classified secret, is based in part on a one-on-one meeting between Mr. Hadley and Mr. Maliki on Oct. 30.

Yes, this was leaked from Senior Administration official and the Times just went right ahead and put it in their paper. And the secret part? The administration wonders if Maliki is up to the task ahead. LOL.

If I were President Bush, I would want that information on the table and out in the open before going into a meeting with President Maliki. It looks to me like Bush knows exactly where to accidently leave his memos in order to get them printed in the NYTimes.

And one more. Iraq the Model has a short post of the rumors in Baghdad about this meeting today.

The Revenge Burning

Powerline has a quick re-cap concerning the story from the AP that may or may not be true. The AP is insisting it's true and they think it's crazy to even doubt their reporting.
They might want to go back and check recent history for why their public might doubt their stories.

Michelle Malkin has a longer version along with tons of links.

Prejudice

Unbelievable. Last week was the big story about Sunnis being burned alive as part of a revenge killing spree in Bagdad. This week, its appearing the whole thing was quite possibly fabricated, yes, fabricated. There was one source for that story and that man apparently doesn't really exist but has been sending the AP stories for a while now.

Flopping Aces broke this story and continues to update his posts.
The fun just goes on.

I mentioned prejudice because in reading that original story didn't we all kind of go, "ewww - what is with these people?"
Here is what Iraq the Model has been going through. Mohammed called them "Rough Days". I believe he gets the prize for understatement of the year.

The other star of the crisis was rumors about ugly revenge attacks and I sometimes feel that those rumors are part of the terrorists and militias propaganda campaign.

Sadly the AP turned out to be a part of that.

Rough times blur the vision and disrupt reason, I understand that. When you hear stories about people burned alive or mass public executions it makes you imagine that the streets are full of monsters coming to predate everything and makes you shout calling for merciless punishment upon even those who are only suspects.

Thankfully most people are better than that. As Mohammed says:

Being stuck at home for four days with all the violence going outside and the fear that it might reach you at home was a horrible experience. When the news came that the curfew was over and people began walking on the streets again there was a strange feeling that was particularly very strong this morning in Baghdad; despite all the rumors and fear from more wide-scale revenge attacks there was a feeling among the people that they must go out on the streets and live in all possible means.
The most beautiful scene was that of students going to their schools and colleges despite all what happened in the days before.

Not everyone will absorb the lesson but I'm sure that this last dose of terror has changed the feelings of so many people here, a change in favor of denouncing and rejecting violence, I hope.

He brings me hope. If you didn't read his post, he has a friend who has been kidnapped. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.