Moving On

The retreat-from-Iraq crowd would abandon the result of a lot of hard work and blood even as we are nearing the point where Iraqi successes can be self sustaining.

See the pictures and stories of those who finally came to believe in us. (Tip to Instapundit) Are we really supposed to move on from this success?

I don't understand how our Left gets to pretend that they are the compassionate side in this whole debate.

And for elements of the Right that insist that the way to win a counter-insurgency is by unrestricted brutality, explain to me why the Anbar people sided against al Qaeda in the face of the jihadis' brutal attempt to rule the people of Anbar and sided with American forces that sought to win hearts and minds even as our forces made every effort to kill armed enemy insurgents and terrorists. If al freaking Qaeda wasn't brutal enough in its methods to win this way, how on earth could we be that brutal?

In June 2006, I argued against taking off the gloves while waiting for the Iraqi government to take over. I was not worried about the apparent military stalemate in Anbar. I'm not claiming prescience as to the results. After expecting the Sunni Arabs to see reality over the past three years, I was almost ready to conclude that the Sunnis were quite mad and bent on suicide. I'd read of repeated movements by the Sunnis to end their resistance after they failed to regain power, but those glimmers never panned out. But I did know that lack of military progress to crush the enemy was not cause for panic. Some other factor would be decisive.

Three months later, I reported on the first Anbar tribal alliance with our side. And now, Anbar's people are fighting with us to keep jihadis out. Our strategy allowed the Anbaris to move on from supporting al Qaeda once these jihadis brutalized them enough.

Moving on by abandoning Iraq would brutalize the Anbaris all over again.

UPDATE: Strategypage explains how the Sunni Arabs moved on in painfully slow progress over the years from resistance and alliance with al Qaeda to joining the Iraqi security forces and fighting al Qaeda.