DEMOCRATS VS REALITY:

U.S. to hand back Anbar, once Iraqi flashpoint (Reuters, 8/28/08)

U.S. troops will on Sept. 1 hand over control of Iraq's Anbar province, once the heart of a bloody Sunni Arab insurgency, reflecting a dramatic drop in violence across the country, an Iraqi official said on Thursday.

Iraqi forces will officially assume control of the vast region west of Baghdad, said Major-General Tareq al-Dulaimi, the provincial police commander.

Anbar, whose insurgency once posed the greatest challenge to U.S. forces and Iraq's Shi'ite-led government, became a relatively peaceful place after Sunni tribal leaders turned against al Qaeda militants and formed neighbourhood police units that became a model for security efforts across Iraq.

Iraq now has security control of 10 of its 18 provinces.

General David Petraeus, U.S. commander in Iraq, said last month he hoped to add at least two more provinces to Iraqi control by the end of the year, in addition to Anbar.

At least the Unicorn Rider is such a neophyte he's only gotten the Iraq War wrong, his running mate also opposed the Contras and SDI. Apparently, on the Left, when they say you are a foreign policy expert it means you were on the losing side in the Cold War and the WoT.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 28, 2008 7:35 AM