Quote:
Originally Posted by spence
As we all know today, it's wasn't really the "Surge" that started the reduction in violence but the fact that Sunni's started taking their future more seriously led by the Anbar Awakening which began the year before. The extra troops certainly helped provide extra security though, and it's a combination of factors that have let to the conditions today.
-spence
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The Sunni didn't "start taking their future more seriously" out of some mystical awakening. It would not have happened without the removal of Sadaam. Under him, the Sunni future was secure. There was no need for co-operation with the Shia or Kurds. They didn't just magically, benevolently awaken to the wonderful world of raprochement. They were forced into that reality by BUSH'S WAR, not by some casual, or religious, or brotherly, innocently walking in the park and struck by a vision awakening. They were forced into a choice of either eventual defeat and subjugation, or being a part of a winning coalition--AS ENVISIONED by the "stupid" one. It was a costly length of time for them to see the light, which might have happened sooner if our face to the war at home was strongly unified instead of divided. Our political infighting over the war, no doubt, gave them some hope to drive us out. But the "stupid" one did not relent. BUSH did that, not Obama/Biden. The surge solidified our effort. Bush's reason for invading Iraq was ultimately, and most importantly, to begin a fundamental change in the Middle East. To bring about, in the long term, a more stable, cooperative, democratically inclined region in place of one that inflicted terror on the rest of the world. And Iraq was the soft spot to begin. The first step, in what he acknowledged, would be a long struggle, has been taken. Perhaps, if we stay with it,
and give Obama kudos for doing so up to this point, the mission will progress more rapidly than expected. If Obama continues staying the course, we may see a sooner than expected change for the better. Kudos to him, if he does. But for Biden to claim Iraq a success of his administration, when he, and Obama, and the Sunni, were all dragged into it, kicking, screaming, complaining, castigating, and condemning the effort, is silly.