The Secret Victory

Have you read about the Coalition handoff of control of provinces in Iraq? Probably not. And why not? Because the news media has buried it. I read a while ago about the turnover of Anbar province. Wow. One my employees, who served in the reserves in Iraq and has an interest in keeping up with the news more than the average American, was shocked. He had no idea. The Iraqi military is dominated by Shiites. Anbar is the first Sunni province to be handed over—peacefully.

Then last week, I clipped an article from some back page of the Wall Street Journal that mentioned that the Coalition turned over the twelfth of eighteen provinces. The brief article said this province contained the “triangle of death.” Is there any question now that the search worked? The U.S. is now down to pre surge troop levels in Iraq.

Clearly, the war has not gone the way the Bush administration planned. And it obviously has not gone the way the media wanted it to go. But, this is big news and the media has missed it. Doesn’t anybody want to say anything nice about George Bush? This shows that our troops are getting the job done. They’re accomplishing the mission. The commander in Anbar said we are on the 10 yard line, “the goal is very near.” The Iraqis are learning how to take charge of their police, military, and political democracies.

After the financial crisis and the presidential election, this is the biggest news story of the year.