ICYMI: We’re winning the war

Judging by the fact that we’re talking energy, the economy and Paris Hilton, it seems pretty obvious that folks have placed on the back burner the biggest issue of our generation: the war on terror.

However, if you have been paying some attention the past couple of weeks, then you should have noticed some pretty encouraging signs coming out of Iraq, namely: that U.S. casualties in July were at their lowest for the year (five), that AQ in Iraq is virtually non-existent, deployments are retuning to 12 months from 15, and that a status-of-forces agreement between Iraq and the U.S. is almost complete.

However, perhaps most significant of all is that now Moqtada al-Sadr is standing down.

With AQ on the run and Sadr standing down, this means there are no formal forces in Iraq to attack our troops. It also means there is no formal organization that Iran can turn to to help fight a surrogate war for them.

In many respects, the story of the Mahdi Army’s decline follows the same pattern as al Qaeda’s: Not only was it routed militarily, it also made itself noxious to the very Shiite population it purported to represent and defend,” writes the Wall Street Journal. “It enforced its heavy-handed religious edicts, coupled with mob-like extortion tactics, wherever it assumed effective control. The overwhelming Shiite rejection of this brand of politics is another piece of good news from Iraq, as it means that Iraqis will not tolerate Iranian-style theocratic rule.”

While it’s still likely that there will be violence in Iraq as even smaller, splinter organizations from Sadr’s army and AQI form and continue to express their brand of disobedience with terrorism, it’s also clear that most Iraqis – a united Iraq of Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis – are ready to have their country back and will not allow extremists to take hold.

Which is, in the long run, why we are fighting this war in the first place.

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About the author

JR Hoeft

Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.