The American Spectator

The Spectacle Blog

Writing in the New York Sun, Nibras Kazimi says things are looking up:

The wider Sunni insurgency - the groups beyond Al Qaeda - is being slowly, and surely, defeated. The average insurgent today feels demoralized, disillusioned, and hunted. Those who have not been captured yet are opting for a quieter life outside of Iraq. Al Qaeda continues to grow for the time being as it cannibalizes the other insurgent groups and absorbs their most radical and hardcore fringes into its fold. The Baathists, who had been critical in spurring the initial insurgency, are becoming less and less relevant, and are drifting without a clear purpose following the hanging of their idol, Saddam Hussein. Rounding out this changing landscape is that Al Qaeda itself is getting a serious beating as the Americans improve in intelligence gathering and partner with more reliable Iraqi forces.

In other words, battling the insurgency now essentially means battling Al Qaeda. This is a major accomplishment.

The bad news is that "major bombings will continue for many years, for Al Qaeda will remain oblivious to all evidence of the insurgency's eventual defeat."

topics:
Iraq