When the Iraqi Sunnis threatened to boycott the January elections, I supported following through with the voting as planned and predicted that it would “only be a hard-learned lesson in democracy” if the Sunnis chose to shortchange themselves in the balloting. Shortly after the momentous elections, a secular Sunni leader voiced the accuracy of my prediction, talking of second thoughts among Sunni parties.
Now, weeks later, the Pentagon supports the truth of my statement.
Many Iraqis who had opposed the U.S.-led transition to democracy have begun reconsidering their position in light of the Jan. 30 elections, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.
Larry Di Rita, chief spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, told reporters he knew of no leaders of the insurgency who have offered to end their opposition. He asserted that the elections have widened the circle of Iraqis who want to participate in the political process.
“The Iraqi people have demonstrated a clear sense of hope for the future, and that sense of hope is increasingly out of step with many of the people who were either on the fence or lending tacit support to the insurgency, so I would imagine a lot of those people are coming forward,” he said.
Don’t let people lie to you — sometimes, saying “I told you so” can be sweet.
The spokesman said the U.S. military facilitates contact between the interim Iraqi government and representatives of opposition or insurgent groups, but he said the military is not negotiating with any groups. Most of this work is being done by the U.S. Embassy and the Iraqi government, he said.
“I think the people who are involved in this know that the Iraqi transitional government has itself been doing its own analysis of who (among the insurgents) might be willing to end the fight and who is worth having those kinds of discussions with,” he added. “But it’s not our place to comment on that.”
Discussions with some of the insurgents? Fine, I have no problem with that. Some may actually see themselves as the patriots for their Iraqi homeland that some on the American left have tried to paint all the terrorists in Iraq as being. These are the ones that can be dealt with via negotiations, having witnessed their nation embracing democracy and working to form their own government.
Now, as for the radical Islamists and foreign terrorists, no deals. Only defeat or death. And how is that progressing?
Brig. Gen. David Rodriguez, a deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there has been a small decline in insurgent attacks since the elections. He added that it may be too soon to draw any conclusions about the strength or size of the insurgency.
Di Rita declined to say whether it appears the insurgency is losing strength.
“The insurgency is what it is,” he said. “A large number of insurgents are being killed and captured. They are still capable of doing great harm. They’re killing a lot of innocent civilians inside of Iraq,” and as a result Iraq is a “country that has thrown itself back into the dark ages.”
And that, y’all, is a realistic assessment — a hell of a lot of progress, but a hell of a long way to go for the Iraqi people, their government and our fine troops.