We are now one week away from the election of a government in Iraq under the new constitution approved in October.  This may be one of the most important political events in the Middle East in the last 800 years.  It is the climax of our military / political campaign to (a) remove Saddam and (b) midwife a moderate, modern, democratic society in Iraq.  We are now within seven days of that goal.

And yet, there has been a sudden outbreak of panic along the Potomac.  Within recent weeks, John Murtha, wielding his considerable credibility as an ex—Marine, has called for immediate withdrawal of our troops, confusingly to only 'over the horizon' (like Okinawa?), and within recent days, Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, has said that we cannot win in Iraq.  How does he know?

What has caused all this croaking? And why now, within days of what may be the turning point in the Iraq War? 

It is worth while recalling that there was croaking in June 2004 that it was too soon to turn the country over to an Iraqi government.  Then there was croaking in January of this year that it was too soon to hold the elections for the new constitutional assembly — that we should wait, although it was never clear for what we were supposed to wait.  And then the Iraqis, in one of the heroic actions of modern times, climbed over the rubble of their society under the Baathist regime to exercise purple finger power.

In October, there was croaking that the Sunnis would derail the new constitution.  They didn't.  And now, we are almost to the point that the Iraqi people will establish an elected government under a constitution they have approved.

The Iraqi dinar — the new dinar issued in October 2003 — has been steady in value for a year, after gaining 25% in its first months of existence.  This is not a sign of panic in Iraq.  Real estate prices are rising.  This is not a sign of panic in Iraq.  Over 1/6 of the population of Iraq went into exile during the Saddam regime.  There is now net immigration to Iraq, not emigration.  This is not a sign of panic in Iraq.

So, why the Democrat panic in Washington? The answer is too obvious.

Greg Richards   12 08 05