Iraq: While the Dems Sell Our Boys Out...

Bill reports from Falluja.

Michael Yon in Anbar Province, too and still walking the line.

Michael Totten in Lebanon where "Iran isn't helping". (Rebuild, that is.)

Greyhawk on Iraq. All the right people are happy about the President's new plan. All the wrong people, well, what do you think?

Omar the Iraqi reports that terrorists are running away, already, from Baghdad to a place called Diyala:

Actually the people in Diyala have every reason to worry about such migration of terror cells because in fact even without reading what those eyewitnesses and officials had to say one would expect insurgents and terrorists to choose hiding in Diyala rather than other provinces until the security operations are through.
I can see some reasons for this choice; Sunni insurgents and al-Qaeda fighters would prefer Diyala over Anbar because:

-They have established many bases in the both, but;
-Anbar is expecting 4,000 additional troops. This along with increased pressure by the tribes in Anbar and the fact that reaching Diyala would be easier than Anbar make Diyala the alternative.

These reporters risk their lives and give balance to lop-sided, incomplete coverage. This war, of all wars, has made the media look like weenies. When you consider how few ever leave their beloved Green Zone, and how independent journalists do bravely leave safety and do give better reporting, their hatred is stoked further.

Now that the enemy knows our strategy, they adjust their tactics. Until we let the marines get to work, the military will be playing a high-priced version of Donkey Kong. This fight won't be lost by American soldiers. Iraq will be lost because the Democrats want Bush to fail more than they want America to win. Iraq will be lost because President Bush tried to find a gentle way to wage war and gave the Iraqi government too much responsibility too soon--that is to say, he had an elected man over there and by not pressing hard, made Iran look like the better long-term ally.

This is not to say that Iraq IS lost. It isn't lost, not by a long shot. It can be won. In some ways, it is won. But when you read anecdotes like the one by Michael Yon about the brave Iraqi leader "tortured for weeks" in unspeakable ways (rap music wasn't used, drills and 2x4s were) and killed, the nature of this amoral, vicious enemy is clear. There are a fair number of terrorist fighters in Iraq who are mass murderers, who enjoy killing for its own sake and who have found a convenient ideology to employ their blood-lust. Isn't that the definition of terrorist?

These types scorn weakness. If the Democrats succeed and Bush buckles, America will be perceived weak because we're weak. Weak-willed.