The Iraqis Are Watching Us Closely

I was going to post on this but the Anchoress has grabbed the story and does better than I would. Go see “Abandoning Iraq” is now “good policy?”

The war or should I say "wars" we and the Iraqi people are fighting against different foes is a complex issue. I know there are people of good will on each side. However I fell pretty strongly about this and I guess I shall be talking Iraq more and more.

I thought this was telling:
I was on the ground in Iraq for 16 months, and in that time I talked to hundreds of Iraqis. Some didn’t like us; some wanted us to leave, but most did not. What they wanted was for America to live up to its word. They wanted us to rid the country of terrorists and militias so that they could live in peace.
They were willing to help us, but they are not a stupid people. They know that if they commit to the American side and the Americans abandon them as we did in 1991, it means death for them and their families. They know this, and it is real. It is not an abstract idea for them.
Most Iraqis don’t support Al-Qaida and the militias, but when our commitment to stay in Iraq and finish the job is in doubt — as it was when Sen. Harry Reid went on TV and said, “this war is lost” — Iraqis are going to hedge their bets.

I think all of us would