The Beginning of the End

An excellent summary and status of our pending victory in Iraq. There are no promises that Iraq will live 200 years as a democracy, but it will be for many years to come. More importantly, it won't be a safehaven and sponsor of the enemy who has inflicted harm on us. From: The Strategy Page

---------------
May 30, 2008: The U.S. is beginning its withdrawal from Iraq. U.S. troops strength is expected to decline from 170,000 to 140,000 by the end of the Summer. The reduction is made possible by the growing number of Iraqi army and police units that can do the job.

...in the last year, many Iraqi army and police units have revealed their capabilities through their performance.

The attitude towards the U.S. troops had also changed. For five years, the American troops consistently demonstrated their superior combat ability, while also observing strict ROE...

When the security forces went after the Shia militias earlier this year, the militiamen were dismayed. It was widely known that the Iraqi army and police were defeating al Qaeda, and a few hold-out Sunni Arab militias. Now these forces were moving into Shia Mahdi Army strongholds, and the Mahdi gunmen quickly discovered they could not hold out against these Iraqi troops who dressed like American troops, and fought a lot like them as well.