Progress in Iraq?

This morning, I came across this interesting piece about Iraq from Britain’s The Times. Note the title: “Al-Qaeda leaders admit: 'We are in crisis. There is panic and fear.’” Key excerpts: “Al-Qaeda in Iraq faces an ‘extraordinary crisis.’ Last year's mass defection of ordinary Sunnis from al-Qaeda to the US military ‘created panic, fear and the unwillingness to fight.’ The terrorist group's security structure suffered ‘total collapse.’ These are the words not of al-Qaeda's enemies but of one of its own leaders in Anbar province — once the group's stronghold. They were set down last summer in a 39-page letter seized during a US raid on an al-Qaeda base near Samarra in November.”

You should read the whole thing, of course, but the baseline comment I’d make is that it appears that recent Democrat attempts to deem Iraq a “failure,” and to claim that US policy and the troop surge in particular are achieving (and have achieved) nothing of real value look even more off-base, in light of key points like these mentioned in the Times piece. The reconstruction effort in Iraq may not be over, nor may it be a complete success at the present time; but, Al-Qaeda in Iraq facing an “extraordinary crisis,” according to a member of its own leadership, does say something very good indeed about the surge and US policy in Iraq, more generally.

Further to that, I’d add that stories like this raise real questions about the appropriateness of the policies being espoused by both Senator Clinton and Barack Obama where Iraq is concerned: is planning for a swift pull-out of troops, when progress of this type seems to be being made, really the right way to go, right now? I’m personally inclined to think not, and I say that as a realist whose main concerns where Iraq is concerned are making sure we don’t nix progress achieved to date (I’d rather further it), nor create a mess for ourselves down the road as a result of ill-conceived policy—which, incidentally, is what both Clinton and Obama have to offer in this specific area.