Republican Senators Go Wobbly About the War in Iraq

Back before the beginning of the Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein had just invaded Kuwait, then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told then President George H. W. Bush in a phone conversation that, "this is no time to go wobbly." Nearly seventeen years later, a growing group of Republican Senators are deciding that this is the exact time to go wobbly. In so doing they threaten to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq.

These Senators seem to believe that the current campaign to eradicate Al Qaeda and to give to nascent Iraqi government breathing space has failed before it even began. Senator Richard Lugar, ordinarily a sober man, has stated that the current campaign would not work and that a "new strategy" was needed. Senator Pete Domenici has said that he was no longer willing to support the "current strategy." Senators Lamar Alexander and Judd Gregg have also announced their disagreement with the campaign to secure Baghdad and eradicate Al Qaeda.

While none of these Senators will go so far as to support Democrat efforts to force and American retreat from Iraq, their statements when considering the facts on the ground seem incredible. That is because the current campaign, known as "the surge", seems to be working.

Anbar Province, to the west of Baghdad, once a hotbed of terrorism, has now become almost totally pacified, thanks in large part to a new alliance between allied and Iraqi forces and local tribes. Al Qaeda is currently being driven out of nearby Diyala Province, north of Baghdad, with the help of local Iraqis, some of them former opponents of coalition forces.

These successes do not mean that casualties will instantly diminish. The terrorists will still carry out "spectacular attacks", setting off bombs designed for maximum damage and carnage. But it does seem that our strategy of removing Al Qaeda presence in the provinces surrounding Baghdad is starting to succeed.