So says one expert, at least:
Security in Iraq continues to improve even after the withdrawal of nearly 25% of U.S. combat brigades, increasing the prospects of further cuts in American forces.
Although U.S. commanders are cautious about predicting further withdrawals, interviews with military experts and recent official statements indicate growing optimism about the potential to pull out more forces.
“I believe the momentum we have is not reversible,” said Jack Keane, a retired Army vice chief of staff who helped develop the Iraq strategy adopted by President Bush in January 2007.
There will be “significant reductions in 2009 whoever becomes president,” said Keane, who regularly consults with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki echoed Keane’s optimism Saturday by declaring that “we defeated” the terrorists in Iraq. U.S. commanders remain cautious.
The official word remains that its fragile – which is a laudable sense of caution on the part of our military commanders in Iraq. By and large, though, I believe we’re firmly in the saddle in Iraq and only a US scuttle of the whole effort could change the result – and now even Obama is starting to change his tune on Iraq; the rest of the kook left still seems wedded to defeat, but that is because they are, well, kooks.
What we need, now, is to start planning some way of thanking our troops for their sacrifices in this campaign – we can’t gather them all together in one place, but I think we should find some public way to crown their efforts. The traditional means is a ticker tape parade in New York City, and I think that this would be appropriate, especially given that NYC is where the war began – of course, the war isn’t over, but one must pause from time to time to pay tribute to those who having been making the real efforts.
Blogs For Victory 