THE WAR -- The Money [Part 29]

US and Iraqi forces drive al-Qa'ida from stronghold
The Australian
Marie Colvin, Mosul | July 07, 2008

AMERICAN and Iraqi forces are driving al-Qa'ida in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country. . . .

The group has been reduced to hit-and-run attacks, including one that killed two off-duty policemen at the weekend, and sporadic bombings aimed at killing large numbers of officials and civilians. . . .

US and Iraqi leaders believe that while it is premature to write off al-Qa'ida in Iraq, the Sunni group has lost control of its last urban base in Mosul, and its remnants have been driven into countryside to the south.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has also led a crackdown on the Shia Mahdi Army in Basra and Baghdad in recent months, claimed yesterday that his Government had "defeated" terrorism. . . .

Iraq is enjoying a surge in oil revenue driven by record crude prices and the highest production levels since Saddam's ouster. The Government expects to earn $73 billion from oil this year if prices remain high.

Putting some of this money to work, the Iraqi Government held a groundbreaking ceremony at the weekend for a project to refurbish the main road to the Baghdad airport.

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Is The Australian a “the surge is working” or, as the critics of the critics of the war so profoundly put it, a “cut and run” news source? Who cares? This is good news–isn’t it?

The report notes only two policemen killed and, what the heck, they were off duty.

Bombings? Hey, we can live (though some will die) with “sporadic.”

And how about the chasing of the “remnants” of those pesky trouble makers into the countryside? I guess they will live there, happily ever after, as the brilliant fairy tale planners of this war envisioned it.

But the best news of all comes from Iraq’s Prime Minister, he pronounces, let’s put it in bold and in caps: “HIS GOVERNMENT HAD “DEFEATED” TERRORISM.” And why shouldn’t we believe our staunch, democratically elected, ally?

And the good news just keeps coming. $73 billion from oil going to the honest and efficient Iraqi government (and their families and clans) this year. That should shut the mouths of those clueless critics of Bush and McBush who are always saying Americans haven’t been asked to sacrifice during this war. Well, as anyone who has ever stood in front of a gas pump and watched the dollars ring up knows, Americans are putting their support of the war in their gas tanks, right next to their fading “Bomb Saddam” bumper stickers.

Nice touch at the end of this story, “the Iraqi Government held a groundbreaking ceremony at the weekend for a project to refurbish the main road to the Baghdad airport.” This IED pocked stretch of road does need some fixing.

Hope they get it done soon so that we can give our brave troops a smooth ride to the planes that will bring them home. Seeing as the surge has worked to perfection, why would we need to keep them over there?