What is the Reason Behind the Huge Recent Success In Iraq?

Before I get to that something major has happened. Moqtada al-Sadr and his group of thugs will not be partcipating in this years elections. Go see Sadrists Movement Is Dead, Pulls Out Of Elections. When your main get out the vote operation is to terrorize people at gun point to vote for your guy , things fall apart when that is removed!!!

This shows the wisdom of the Iraqi President. The United States Govt was not thrilled about the recent Iraqi offensvie partly because the Americans were concerned about their own elections and wanted things to be quiet. The President of Iraq knew better.

Anyway these same Iraqi forces are involved in a new Offensive with American troops backing them up. It might truly bring the end game. It infuriates me it is not being reported. See AJ's post Sadrists and Iranians Losing Support And Ground In Iraq. This is must read. However this part struck me.


Senior Brookings Fellows Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack gave a report today and entertained questions at a Brookings briefing on Iraq. It was the single most illuminating presentation I have witnessed on the status of Iraq and the potential way forward. Neither man can be accused of shilling for either the administration or John McCain for numerous reasons: both have been strong critics of the war and O’Hanlon opposed the war at the onset and still believes on balance it has not made us safer. I understand from Brookings that the entire transcript will be posted, but I offer some highlights below.

O’Hanlon explained that the last three months has been the “spring of the blossoming of Iraqi security forces” and Iraq is on an “impressive trajectory” although we have not yet “reached a stable end point.” He stressed that the 80% reduction in civilian violence was much better than he thought possible. He went through a detailed review of Basra, conceding that Maliki’s actions took the Americans by surprise and that in the first week things went poorly. However, by the second week two brigades were deployed from Al Anbar ( a testimony to massive improvements in Iraq security force logistics) and the mission was successful, allowing the Iraqi army and national police force to now control the streets of Basra.

Pollack echoed these observations, saying that “The headline was the emergence of Iraqi security forces.” He explained that the fundamental shift from Americans leading with Iraqis in support to Iraqis leading not just “hold” but “clear” operations is now “well underway.” He observes that sectarian divisions within the military are receding as mixed Sunni and Shia units have been successful in Basra and Mosul operations. He sees vast improvement in military leadership which “is one of the main reasons for improvement” in the security situation. He credits the military success with allowing for a “fundamental rearrangement” of Iraqi politics, observing that Maliki is now “flying high” with new found respect from Sunnis. The big picture take away, he says, it that having achieved remarkable success with major issues we now can begin to address “second and third order problems” such as insuring that military forces “stay in their lane” and do not subvert civilian leadership.