Rice in Baghdad as surge starts to work

Washington Post:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Baghdad Saturday for meetings with U.S. and Iraqi officials, arriving in the embattled capital as the Iraqi government reported initial success in a new security effort.

Rice cautioned that long-term success will depend on how the Iraqi government uses any period of relative calm resulting from the crackdown on rampant sectarian violence.

She told reporters accompanying her that U.S. and Iraqi troops are "off to a good start" in implementing the security plan, which she noted "was not ever intended to be a single day, but to ramp up over time."

Rice added, "If, in fact, militias decide to stand down and stop killing innocent Iraqis . . . that can't be a bad thing," the Associated Press reported. "But how the Iraqis use the breathing space that that might provide is what's really important."

Shortly after her arrival, Rice held a town hall-style meeting with U.S. Embassy and military personnel in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

In a pep talk to about 250 Americans at the former Iraqi presidential palace that now houses the U.S. Embassy, Rice alluded to a debate taking place in Washington over the war in Iraq. The Senate is scheduled to vote Saturday on a nonbinding resolution, passed by the House Friday, that expresses disapproval of President Bush's plan to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq to help carry out the Baghdad security operation and reinforce Anbar province.

"Some do not think this war was the right war to fight," she said. "Some believe we in the administration haven't fought it quite right." But she told the diplomats and service members gathered in a spacious palace lounge that the work they are doing is "noble" and "necessary." Rice thanked them for their "sacrifice" and assured them that "it's appreciated across the board."

...

Her visit came amid a relative lull in violence, which the Iraqi government held up as a promising sign that the new Baghdad security plan is off to a good start. A top U.S. military official sounded a more cautionary note, saying the capital might be experiencing a temporary respite as militant organizations assess the new measures and gear up to fight back.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki assured President Bush Friday that the three-day-old plan "has achieved fabulous success," according to an account of the conversation released by the prime minister's office. Speaking by secure video link-up, Maliki also told Bush that officials will be "firm in dealing with any side that breaks the law, regardless" of their sect.

...

Has a major political party ever been in such a rush to condemn a successful military operation? The Democrats may be in the process of making their on political suicide pact. No one deserves it more. This preemptive betrayal of the US effort in Iraq and giving hope to a hopeless enemy deserves the scorn of the American people and when they come to realize how they have been misled and betrayed by the Democrats they will reap more than scorn.

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