The Democrats' Fairy Tale

From The New York Times
By William Kristol
Op-Ed
January 14, 2008

[O]bama has been pretty consistent in his opposition to the war. But ... Obama's view of the current situation in Iraq is out of touch with reality. In this, however, Obama is at one with Hillary Clinton and the entire leadership of the Democratic Party.

When President Bush announced the surge of troops ... Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Democratic Congressional leaders predicted failure. Obama ... told Larry King that he didn't believe additional U.S. troops would "make a significant dent in the sectarian violence that's taking place there." Then in April, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, asserted that "this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything." In September, Clinton told Gen. David Petraeus that his claims of progress in Iraq required a "willing suspension of disbelief."

The Democrats were wrong in their assessments of the surge. Attacks per week on American troops are now down about 60 percent from June. Civilian deaths are down approximately 75 percent from a year ago. December 2007 saw the second-lowest number of U.S. troops killed in action since March 2003. ...

Do Obama and Clinton and Reid now acknowledge that they were wrong? Are they willing to say the surge worked?

No. ... When asked recently whether she stood behind her "willing suspension of disbelief" insult to General Petraeus, Clinton said, "That's right."

When Obama was asked in the most recent Democratic presidential debate, "Would you have seen this kind of greater security in Iraq if we had followed your recommendations to pull the troops out last year?" he didn't directly address the question. But he volunteered that ... "We should start negotiating now." ...

Last year's success ... was made possible by confidence among Iraqis that U.S. troops would stay and help protect them ... [W]e have been able to turn around the situation in Iraq. ...

Yesterday, on "Meet the Press," Hillary Clinton claimed that the Iraqis are changing their ways in part because of the Democratic candidates' "commitment to begin withdrawing our troops in January of 2009." So the Democratic Party, having proclaimed that the war is lost and having sought to withdraw U.S. troops, deserves credit for any progress that may have been achieved in Iraq.

That is truly a fairy tale. ...
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