“Instead of worrying about an exit strategy, realize that there’s no substitute for winning.” UPDATED w/ Video

Despite the fact that “during the first 10 weeks of 2007, Iraq accounted for 23 percent of the news for network TV news,” and “in 2008, it plummeted to 3 percent during that period,” there is still news coming out of Iraq, and it is good news. We are winning the war in Iraq, along side new battled hardened soldiers in the Iraqi Army:

The latest proof came last month, as the Iraqi army - just a few months ago the target of scorn and abuse from Democratic politicians and journalists - forcefully reoccupied three cities that had served as key insurgency bases (Basra, Sadr City and Mosul).

Sunnis and Shias alike applauded as their nation’s army compelled insurgent militias to lay down their arms. The country’s leading opposition newspaper, Azzaman, led the applause for the move into Mosul - a sign that national reconciliation in Iraq is under way and probably irreversible.

The Democrats have told us over and over again that “The Surge” failed.

• Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday that the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq has failed (Source.)
• Our military has performed their duties excellently, but the purpose of the escalation in Iraq was to create a secure environment in which political change could occur, and it is clear that the Iraqi leaders have failed to make progress.

  We need a New Direction to bring our troops home from Iraq so that America can refocus its efforts against terrorism worldwide.
  (Source.)

• Today’s National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq confirms what most Americans already know: Our troops are mired in an Iraqi civil war and the President’s escalation strategy has failed to produce the political results he promised to our troops and the American people.
  (Source.)

Whatever happened to that civil war, anyway?

Her Speakerness, Nancy Pelosi went one step further, claiming that not only has “The Surge” failed, but Iran is the reason the level of violence is down.

Well, the purpose of the surge was to provide a secure space, a time for the political change to occur to accomplish the reconciliation. That didn’t happen. Whatever the military success, and progress that may have been made, the surge didn’t accomplish its goal. And some of the success of the surge is that the goodwill of the Iranians-they decided in Basra when the fighting would end, they negotiated that cessation of hostilities-the Iranians.

Tell me again the Left supports the troops.

The fact remains that al Qaeda is taking a beating on every front they dare to fight on. They are even losing in Saudi Arabia. The terrorists are finding similar results elsewhere, and this is an excellent development, one worthy of review.

In short, the larger War on Terror may be reaching a tipping point similar to that of the Iraq war.

The US public and policymakers need to recognize how this happened - and draw lessons from this success.

1) We need to acknowledge that the Iraq war wasn’t a “distraction” from the War on Terror, as critics still complain, but its centerpiece.

It’s not mere coincidence that our success against al Qaeda globally comes along with success in Iraq. For all its setbacks and frustrations, the Iraq war drew jihadists into a battle they thought they could win, because it would be fought on their home turf - but which they’re now losing disastrously.

2) The US decision to “stay the course” in the Iraq war, which was also widely mocked and criticized, served to thoroughly demoralize the jihadist movement.

From its start in spring 2003, the Iraqi insurgency has been entirely built on the premise that it could use suicide and roadside bombings, sectarian slaughter and the torture and murder of hostages to force America out of the Middle East.

If Democrats had won the White House in 2004, the jihadists might have succeeded.

Instead, America doggedly refused to give in to terror, despite 4,000 combat deaths and massive antiwar sentiment, and unwaveringly supported an Iraqi government that was at times feeble and confused - and proceeded to break the jihadist movement’s back.

In that interview, the CIA’s Hayden also that al Qaeda is no longer able to use the Iraq war as a way to draw in new recruits. The reason is clear: If you go to Iraq to fight the American infidel you will die, and die for nothing.

3) Finally, the Bush administration’s success in Iraq, and growing success in the War on Terror, offers a powerful object lesson in how to deal with the continuing threat from Iran.

Iran remains the most lethal state sponsor of terrorism, fomenting proxy wars in Lebanon and Gaza, and in Iraq itself. Its nuclear-weapons program proceeds despite minor sanctions and endless international efforts at engagement.

Note that the author does not write that America should deal with Iran, but that we have shown that it can be done. I sincerely hope and pray we can avoid conflict with Iran. I would much rather that Iranians fixed the issue themselves. They are about as frustrated with it as we are.

Regardless of what happens in Iran, understand that our military has all but secured victory in Iraq, despite the predictions of failure by the liberals worldwide. If you are looking for people who need a serving of crow, simply Google “surge failed.”

The line for the buffet starts there.

UPDATE:

My friend Humbled Infidel sent me this video today via Stumble Upon. It is the video of a soldier’s call to the Neal Boortz show, asking that he be allowed to finish his job in Iraq. The caller’s name is Vic, but his real name is Mike.

Mike was later killed by a roadside bomb, probably built by Iran, the country Speaker Pelosi promotes as a peacemaker in Iraq.