The Iraq War is over. Flames still burst from various sources and wild cards remain, such as the potential that Muqtada al-Sadr might stomp his feet and encourage his diminished militias to attack us. Yet support for Sadr among Shia is hardly monolithic. In fact, many Shia view him as a simpleton whose influence derives strictly from respect for his father. Others cite the threat from Iran, but the Iranian participation in the fighting here remains overstated.
Nobody knows what the future will bring, but the civil war has completely ended.
The Iraqi army and police grow stronger by the month, and even the National Police are gaining a degree of respect and credibility.
Iraqis are tired of war and ready to get back to school, to business and to living life as it should be.
- Independent correspondent Michael Yon, in the New York Post
Michael Yon is braver than the rest of us for declaring the war over, but it’s important to understand that there are no final battles in counterinsurgencies and it’s impossible to pinpoint the exact dates when wars like this end.
The anti-Iraqi insurgency – a war within a war – really is effectively over.
As long as another such war within a war doesn’t break out, Yon will appear more perceptive than the rest of us in hindsight when the currently low levels of violence finally do taper off into relative insignificance.
None of this means terrorism and violence in Iraq are over. Violence is never over in the Middle East, and Islamist terrorism will be with us for years, if not decades.
There may yet be another war, a different war, in Iraq. It would be foolish to dismiss that possibility or assume there is no more work to be done.
- Michael Totten, commentarymagazine.com
9 Comments
Before coming to the blog I was reading on Yahoo news of another bombing in the Shiite section of Baghdad. But yes the question will remain does one bombing amount to a continued war?
Certainly whom ever did the bombing is continuing their part of a war.
But we have to reach the point where not every action requires a over whelming use of force in response.
No more than one robbery is call for the entire Police department to be called out and the city turned into a Police state.
The Army is a ill fitting tool to be used to control or investigate a crime. When the criminal is hiding in the cracks and crevasse. A tank does not fit and the only solution would be to tear down the half of the city where they are thought to be hiding. This makes everyone in that part of the city a criminal and they can not react any differently.
We may have finally reached that point in Iraq where it s solely a criminal matter and not a matter of war.
I would hope so as it means one of the greatest mistakes this country has committed will be on the road of atonement.
I think daily or weekly bombings will be the new norm, post saddam.
So, yea, we won!
“Violence is never over in the Middle East, and Islamist terrorism will be with us for years, if not decades.”
Gee, isn’t that kinda what McCain said during his campaign when he said he thought we should stick around for awhile? The war isn’t over. The Dems just want to quit fighting it.
Dog … those suicide bombers hide in the cracks and the crevasses after the attack.
Except, “WAR” –
It isn’t our fight.
At least it wasn’t until George WMD Bush invaded the country without provocation or cause.
As his last act in office, Shrub should drop trou and take a dump in the middle of President Obama’s Oval Office. It’d be a lot more subtle than any of the other messes he’s leaving for the new administration.
Dog … those suicide bombers hide in the cracks and the crevasses after the attack
War, after the attack the suicide bombers are in the cracks and crevasses and the car windshields and the lampposts and the boots of those responding to the attack. They will find pieces for months after the attack.
Destroying the neighborhood after the attack does no good. But even worst the suicide bombers are hiding in the crowds. Surrounded by innocent people, cowardly but the desired effect.
“I would hope so as it means one of the greatest mistakes this country has committed will be on the road of atonement.”
Well said. Just because one believes that the invasion of Iraq was a horrible, horrible mistake does not mean that one doesn’t hope for the best possible outcome possible.
Heh, I went one “possible” too far.
What victory looks like in Iraq.
28 dead 55 wounded.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081227/wl_nm/us_iraq_violence_8