Things have truly passed the tipping point when the defeatists in the MSM can no longer ignore the good new coming out of Iraq. In the WaPo’s editorial board has finally taken notice.

THERE’S BEEN a relative lull in news coverage and debate about Iraq in recent weeks — which is odd, because May could turn out to have been one of the most important months of the war. While Washington’s attention has been fixed elsewhere, military analysts have watched with astonishment as the Iraqi government and army have gained control for the first time of the port city of Basra and the sprawling Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, routing the Shiite militias that have ruled them for years and sending key militants scurrying to Iran. At the same time, Iraqi and U.S. forces have pushed forward with a long-promised offensive in Mosul, the last urban refuge of al-Qaeda. So many of its leaders have now been captured or killed that U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, renowned for his cautious assessments, said that the terrorists have “never been closer to defeat than they are now.”

Iraq passed a turning point last fall when the U.S. counterinsurgency campaign launched in early 2007 produced a dramatic drop in violence and quelled the incipient sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites. Now, another tipping point may be near, one that sees the Iraqi government and army restoring order in almost all of the country, dispersing both rival militias and the Iranian-trained “special groups” that have used them as cover to wage war against Americans. It is — of course — too early to celebrate; though now in disarray, the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr could still regroup, and Iran will almost certainly seek to stir up new violence before the U.S. and Iraqi elections this fall. Still, the rapidly improving conditions should allow U.S. commanders to make some welcome adjustments — and it ought to mandate an already-overdue rethinking by the “this-war-is-lost” caucus in Washington, including Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

This indeed presents a major problem for Barack Obama. He and his enablers in the MSM are so heavily invested in defeat in Iraq that they have nowhere else to turn. It will be interesting to ee how they try to spin their way out of this one.

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   The fact that this appeared in the Editorial section and not the front page indicates just how badly the press has failed. In my job I read Editor & Publisher, the weekly news for newspapers and publishers. It seems that every week they report another survey of public mistrust of the press, falling subscriptions, and failing newspaper businesses. And yet, the E&P’s editorials consistently pound the need to “be an agent of change” and other political drek.

   Comment by neal5x5 — 6/3/2008 @ 14:46

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