The Turning Tide In Iraq & The Silly Games Played By The Dem’s

My how the tide has turned:

U.S. and Iraqi troops killed 15 suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants in a daylong battle south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

The fighting took place Monday in Adwaniyah, a town near the Tigris River about 20 kilometers (13 miles) south of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.

It began when between 30 and 45 militants on foot attacked checkpoints set up by local citizens who recently began working with U.S. troops in the area, the military said. Other al-Qaida fighters followed in trucks mounted with high caliber machine guns, it said.

The local citizens were aided by another neighborhood group from Hawr Rajab, a town close to Adwaniyah, the statement said. With their help, as well as with backup from U.S. and Iraqi troops, they were able to keep the militants from taking over the checkpoints, it said.

During the battle, American F-16 fighter jets dropped two 500-pound bombs in the area, the military said. It was unclear whether the 15 victims died in the gunbattle, or as a result of the U.S. bombing.

In years past those citizens would have ran.  Now they stand and fight alongside our troops.   Meanwhile the worthless Democrat Harry Reid is again posturing:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that Democrats won’t approve
more money for the Iraq war this year unless President Bush agrees to begin
bringing troops home.

By the end of the week, the House and Senate planned to vote on a $50 billion
measure for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill would require Bush to
initiate troop withdrawals immediately with the goal of ending combat by
December 2008…

If Democrats refuse to send Bush the $50 billion, the military would have to
drain its annual budget to keep the wars afloat. Last week, Congress approved a
$471 billion budget for the military that pays mostly for non-war related
projects, such as depot maintenance and weapons development.

The tactic stops short of blocking money outright from being used on the war,
an approach that has divided Democrats and fueled Republican criticism that
Democrats are eager to abandon the troops. But forcing the Pentagon into a
painful budget dance to pay for the wars spares Democrats from having to write a
blank check on the unpopular war.

Never mind that over 5,000 troops are slated to be coming home (not to be replaced), as announced months ago, from the drawdown of the surge. 

Nevermind all that. 

How about their refusal to acknowledge how the tide has turned in Iraq?  It wasn’t too long ago that Harry Reid pronounced we had lost in Iraq.  All that was needed was to pack our bags and go home with our tails between our legs.  But now Iraqi’s are taking on al-Qaeda face to face.  Whether they be Iraqi civilians, military or police, they are all fighting to be rid of the insurgent presence.  Deaths are down, attacks are down. 

None of it acknowledged by the likes of Harry Reid because defeat can be the ONLY outcome for him.  He and his cohorts have invested almost all of their energy and work ensuring that the United States is defeated, and there is no turning back now.  Instead they play games with these silly bills and posturing in the hopes of making Bush look like the evil man they believe he to be.

But today Pelosi found out that the silly games don’t work so well with Bush.  She sent him this missive after his veto of the bloated with earmarks health and education spending bill:

“Key to this dialogue … is some willingness on your part to actually find
common ground,” Pelosi and Reid wrote. “Thus far, we have seen only a hard line
drawn and a demand that we send only legislation that reflects your cuts.”

Which Bush answered quickly with:

The failure of Congress to carry out its basic responsibility to fund the
government cannot be resolved with letters. It can only be resolved by Congress
getting its work done, and not wasting dwindling legislative days on political
statements and legislation that will never become law.

Can you say ouch!

UPDATE

Politico: (h/t Ace):

For the first time since losing control of Congress in 2006, Republicans are
back on offense in the political struggle over the Iraq war, as Democratic plans
to force a change in strategy by President Bush through peeling away his GOP
support continue to yield few results.

Republicans are increasingly buoyed by perceived divisions among Democrats,
seeming signs of progress on the ground in Iraq and the fact that the first
brigade of U.S. troops started coming home Tuesday.

~~~

[A]fter a summer of bitter partisan battles over the war, Democrats are going
into an Iraq funding battle this week with little hope of dividing Bush and
Republicans on Capitol Hill, and they privately seem resigned that the White
House will continue to have its way on funding the long-running conflict.

The House is set to debate an Iraq funding bill that liberals believe isn’t
strong enough, Republicans refuse to embrace and the president plans to veto.

The Senate, meanwhile, is expected to take up the bill Thursday. But with
Republicans insisting on a 60-vote, filibuster-proof threshold and Democrats
saying they won’t send a bill to Bush without a troop withdrawal timetable, the
measure is doomed.

There is a pervasive sense among Republicans, and even some Democrats, that
the war debate has been reframed by signs of success and that both sides need to
adapt to facts on the ground.

“I think momentum has been lost for the argument that the surge has failed,”
said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Bush’s strongest supporters in
Congress. “The momentum is to allow the surge to continue. I don’t see anyone
defecting from our side. If there’s any change in votes, it will be on their
side.”

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), a moderate Democrat who supports a change in
mission but not a mandatory troop withdrawal, said, “People understand that
there has been a military success in Iraq. … There’s an expectation that more
of that will happen.”

… it has been clear over the past week that there are divisions among
Democrats over the $50 billion “bridge” fund. Last week, House leaders pulled
their Iraq measure because Democrats needed more time to explain the measure to
their caucus. In the Senate this week, Democrats will vote on a “goal” of troop
withdrawal, but if it does not gain 60 votes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
(D-Nev.) says the president won’t get his money.

That makes some Democrats uncomfortable, since they want to fund the troops
even while Congress disagrees over how to end the war.

Well, they can always complain about the mean average of troops killed this year rather then the steep decline.  Wouldn’t want to admit that the war is going well would we.

And from Amy Proctor comes this report about some pissed off liberals destroying a memorial on Veterans Day:

Curt

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