WHAT SURGE?

I was stunned by a report carried by the BBC this morning. It concerns the situation in Iraq and, surprisingly coming from such an unrelenting anti-war camp, it is GOOD NEWS. The headline caught my eye "Agencies see good year for Iraq" - and the alarm bells went off. Which "agencies" I wondered could prompt the dhimmis in the BBC to actually broadcast a headline suggesting things were going well in Iraq? The answer is the IMF and the UN.

And what, you may ask, prompts these "agencies" to forecast the good news? Might it be the obvious success of the Surge? Might it be the heroic leadership offered up by General Petraeus? No. The good news is all predicated on the passing of a law on Saturday, enabling some members of the Baath Party of Saddam Hussain to re-enter the military and bureaucracy. So, the US military get nil points from the rotten BBC - and instead those agencies like the UN which fled Iraq when the going got tough are listened to and pro-Ba'athist legislation hailed.

The REASON for a better 2008 in Iraq is the combination of the bravery and fighting skill of the US military and the determination of many ordinary Iraqis to get on with life. Saddam is dead, his thuggocracy is in ruins, the Jihadists are on the run and Bin Laden's scheme to make Iraq the frontline for Al Queda seems as clever as Hitler's scheme to invade and conquer the Soviet Union. But the BBC will never admit that the US is succeeding in Iraq and that the liberation of that country will come to be seen as one of its finest moment - contrary to the empty-headed chitterchat of the chattering classes.

Cross-posted at A TANGLED WEB