The latest quarterly report, mandated by Congress as a condition of war funding for Iraq, is out. It's bad news for those who still insist the surge isn't working, or that U.S. troops are mired in a civil war or that there is no political progress.
What a shame! We're actually winning.
What is winning? As defined by President Bush and stated at the beginning of the report:
Measuring Stability and Security in IraqWhat Americans care most about and are anxious to see is further proof of the decline in violence. Three charts illustrate that perfectly:
December 2007
Report to Congress
In accordance with the
Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2007
(Section 9010, Public Law 109-289)
Department of Defense (PDF)
The strategic goal of the United States in Iraq remains a unified, democratic and federal Iraq that can govern, defend and sustain itself and is an ally in the war on terror.
...
The number of security incidents has fallen significantly and is now at levels last seen in the summer of 2005. Although ethno-sectarian violence continues to be a concern, overall civilian casualties, enemy attacks and total improvised explosive device attacks have decreased markedly over the reporting period.
Much of the report deals with the phony benchmarks insisted upon by Democrats in Congress as a condition for war funding and an excuse for insisting on withdrawal if the benchmarks are not fully met. Though it has not happened in precisely the way Democrats attempted to define it, progress has occurred on the political, economic and security front.
And when one considers that Iraq has made more progress under extraordinarily difficult conditions than Democrats have made as they close out the legislative year in comfy Washington, we can only wish that someone would apply benchmarks to Democrats instead of the other way around.
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