If It's Saturday, the Least-Read News Day of the Week, It Must Be Time for AP to Admit the Surge Has Worked Spectacularly

Once again, it turns out that a story that could have been written at any time over the past six months is only ready for printing on a Saturday.

Funny how it always works out like that.

Analysis: US now winning Iraq war that seemed lost

...

Limited, sometimes sharp fighting and periodic terrorist bombings in Iraq are likely to continue, possibly for years. But the Iraqi government and the U.S. now are able to shift focus from mainly combat to mainly building the fragile beginnings of peace — a transition that many found almost unthinkable as recently as one year ago.

Despite the occasional bursts of violence, Iraq has reached the point where the insurgents, who once controlled whole cities, no longer have the clout to threaten the viability of the central government.

That does not mean the war has ended or that U.S. troops have no role in Iraq. It means the combat phase finally is ending, years past the time when President Bush optimistically declared it had. The new phase focuses on training the Iraqi army and police, restraining the flow of illicit weaponry from Iran, supporting closer links between Baghdad and local governments, pushing the integration of former insurgents into legitimate government jobs and assisting in rebuilding the economy.

Scattered battles go on, especially against al-Qaida holdouts north of Baghdad. But organized resistance, with the steady drumbeat of bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and ambushes that once rocked the capital daily, has all but ceased.

This amounts to more than a lull in the violence. It reflects a fundamental shift in the outlook for the Sunni minority, which held power under Saddam Hussein. They launched the insurgency five years ago. They now are either sidelined or have switched sides to cooperate with the Americans in return for money and political support.

Also, there were no US casualties in Iraq this past week. (Knock wood.)

Meanwhile, it remains NBCNews official, carefully-considered, expert-informed opinion that Iraq is in a state of Civil War.

Note the MSNBC's correspendent's prognosis -- the fact the NBC, and soon the MSM, would call the situation in Iraq a "civil war" would have a great political impact, and would increase the urgency for a withdrawal.

Funny how NBC isn't able to make these "gutsy" semantic decisions when the political impact might run in the opposite direction.

Insiders expect NBC to revisit this carefully-considered, expert-informed opinion two hours after Barack Obama wins the presidency.

If he doesn't win -- the Civil War rages on, baby!

posted by Ace at 03:59 PM

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