The Anbar Story

While it's fashionable to mock President Bush, some in Washington are smart enough to speak the truth. WaPo's editorial writer says today that Bush's surge decision, in opposition to the counsel of most of Congress and some in his own administration, will stand as one of the best and most courageous acts of his presidency.

The writer talks about Anbar in Iraq that though there is, as ever, reason for concern about the future of the Sunni province, it is a significant success.

Typically those who were opposed to the surge, including Obama and Biden, say that things are better because the Sunni tribes turned against al-Qaeda before the surge. In other words, they argue U.S. troops didn't have much to do with the victory in Anbar. But there is information that says otherwise.

WaPo reports that Bob Woodward's latest book tells us that the Sunni leaders did some of the work but "groundbreaking" new covert techniques enabled U.S. military and intelligence officials to locate, target and kill insurgent leaders and key individuals in extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq."

The United States definitely changed its strategy when it decided to work with the tribal leaders. Whatever complicated reasons there are behind Anbar's success story, the victory remains a fragile one.

WaPo's editorial addresses the matter: "That is certainly a danger, but it is one that will be mitigated as long as U.S. troops remain in their 'overwatch' role. For that reason, the Bush administration is right to resist demands by newly confident Shiite leaders for an accelerated U.S. withdrawal from the country. And Mr. Bush's successor will inherit the task not just of leaving Iraq responsibly, but of preserving what, in Anbar, has been a hard-won victory."