Strategy Page:

Both the terrorists and U.S. troops know that victory has been defined as several weeks with no bombs going off in Baghdad. The media is keeping score, and they use their ears and video cameras. No loud bangs and no bodies equals no news. That's victory.

Not really. The real war is within the Iraqi government. The terrorists lost two years ago, when the relentless slaughter of Moslem civilians turned the Arab world against al Qaeda. Journalists missed that one, but not the historians. The war in Iraq has always been about Arabs demonstrating that they can run a clean government, for the benefit of all the people, not just the tyrants on top. So far, there have lots of victories and defeats in this, and no clear decision overall. Elections have been held several times, but the people elected have proved to be as corrupt and venal as their tyrannical predecessors. Everyone admits that this bad behavior is not a good thing, but attempts to stop it have been only partially successful. Changing thousands of years of custom and tradition is not easy. The clay tablets dug up in the vicinity of Baghdad, reveal similar scandal and despair over four thousand years ago. Most Iraqis realize, however, that if the chain of corruption is not broken, the dreary past will again become a painful present.

This news should help the Iraqis move towards victory.

IraqSlogger: Backlogged, Parliament Scraps Summer Break

Iraqi Parliamentarians Will Keep Working; Priorities Include Draft Oil Law

Baghdad, June 23, (VOI) – Iraq's parliament, during a session on Saturday, decided to extend activities for one month as of July 1 until July 30 to finalize draft laws that need debates and voting.

"The parliament's decision came after voting over a proposal by the speakership board to finalize about 50 draft laws including the postponement of the constitution amendment committee's work and the draft law on oil," Wael Abdul-Latif, a member of parliament from the National Iraqi List, said.

Members of the Iraqi parliament were supposedly on a summer recess after the expiry of the current legislative term in accordance with the Iraqi constitution.

"The majority – 103 out of the 140 members who attended Saturday's session – have voted in favor of the decision to extend the parliament's activities," Abdul-Latif told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). [...]

I think the oil sharing law is going to take a while. Consider the fact, that oil was discovered in Iraq in 1927; in Kirkuk; for those watching at home, that's in the Kurdish territory. There were
later dsicoveries in the South near Basra; for 75
or 80 years it was solely controlled; some would say stolen by the Sunni tribesman of Dulaimi, Jibbur & Ubeidi provinces.

I don't know the details but I hope they're not going for an "ultimate agreement" right off the bat because that's usually a recepy for failure. Instead make a law that's subject to further negotiation, readjustment and compromise at a set future date. Get the general agreement going and tweak it later on.

If I remember correctly new oil fields were found in Anbar recently and that should help ease things a bit.

Back to the article:
"The terrorists lost two years ago, when the relentless slaughter of Moslem civilians turned the Arab world against al Qaeda. Journalists missed that one, but not the historians."

Well put and another additional reason to support a war future historians will laud as both incredibly important as well as successful, that's even if the worst happens and US politicians abandon the US forces and Iraq gets split between Iran, Saudi Arabia and a US-supported Kurdistan (plenty of weapons, guidance, and some sort of Turkey-Kurdistan treaty would be enough).

Not that I think that will happen, it would be US political suicide in relation to all foreign affairs and I think even Hillary and Obama gets that or will get it forcefully explained within an hour of stepping into the Oval Office (*shudder* ^_^).

Our new Iraq strategy, also known as "clear and hold" is a good strategy I can support IF there are enough forces to execute the strategy. But this quote from an American general active in Iraq (Odierno as I recall, from an AOL link) is troubling:

He said U.S. forces now control about 60 percent of the city's west side, but "the challenge now is, how do you hold onto the terrain you've cleared? You have to do that shoulder-to-shoulder with Iraqi security forces. And they're not quite up to the job yet."

If US forces clear but then no one holds, its all smoke and mirrors accomplishing little.