Declaring that Iraq is in a state of civil war, our Democratic friends in congress show their reluctance to admit that al Qaeda is even in Iraq. Going further, by declaring the war in Iraq lost they imply that if al Qaeda is in Iraq, they are winning the fight there. Congressional Democrats' unwillingness to recognize the improved security in areas that had been some of the most deadly in the world, signals their awareness of consequences -- the consequences that will accrue if people should ever be allowed to see how wrong they've been.
And so, they continue to see and to react to events in Iraq in the context of Washington politics. A stable democratic Iraq means political disaster for Washington Democrats.
Meanwhile Tigerhawk observes that the Anbar Sunni rejection of al Qaeda is spreading to the Arab world beyond Iraq. That has a different set of consequences.
It remains to be seen whether, when the dust literally and figuratively settles, al Qaeda will have succeeded either in rendering Iraq ungovernable under Western norms or in persuading a sufficient number of Americans that we have "lost." It is clear, though, that however much the Arab world may hate the United States for bringing the war into its midst, it is increasingly lining up against al Qaeda in the waging of that war. In the fullness of time history will reveal that the polarization of the Arab and Muslim world against al Qaeda is essential for victory against the transnational jihad, and that it was the direct result of the forward foreign policy of Bush and Blair.
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