Delusional Times

The NY Times editorializes about "War without end" in which it accuses the President of using strawman arguments against the NY times backed Democrats surrender plan.

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The really disturbing thing about Mr. Bush’s comments is his painting of the war in Iraq as an obvious-to-everyone-but-the-wrongheaded fight between the United States and a young Iraqi democracy on one side, and Al Qaeda on the other. That fails to acknowledge that the Shiite-dominated government of Iraq is not a democracy and is at war with many of its own people. And it removes all pressure from the Iraqi leadership — and Mr. Bush — to halt the sectarian fighting and create a real democracy.

There is no doubt that organized Islamist terrorism — call it Al Qaeda or by any other name — is a dire threat. There is also no doubt that terrorists entered Iraq — mostly after the war began.

We, too, believe that Iraq has to be made as stable as possible so the United States can withdraw its troops without unleashing even more chaos and destruction. But Mr. Bush is not doing that and his version of reality only makes it more unlikely. The only solution lies with the Iraqi leaders, who have to stop their sectarian blood feud and make a real attempt to form a united government. That is their best chance to stabilize the country, allow the United States to withdraw and, yes, battle Al Qaeda.

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Let's start with the insult to the Iraqi government that it is not a democracy. We also saw the purple fingers of the voters who installed this government. It may not be one that we would chose and clearly is not one that the NY Times would chose, but it as close to a democracy as the new Democrat majority is in Washington.

The NY Times did not publish Zawahiri's latest missive to his forces in Iraq but I linked to it here.

THE deputy leader of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has urged supporters in Iraq to extend their “holy war” to other Middle Eastern countries.

In a letter sent to the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq in the past few weeks, Zawahiri claims that it is defeating US forces and urges followers to expand their campaign of terror.

He conjures a vision of an Islamic state comprising Lebanon, Palestine and Syria, where Al-Qaeda has already gained its first footholds.

The goal of an Islamic “greater Syria”, first outlined by Zawahiri two years ago, is detailed in the letter amid growing concern about the activities of new groups under Al-Qaeda’s influence in the countries concerned.

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There is much more. Just who is the delusional party to this debate. Why is the NY Times ignoring the obvious evidence that al Qaeda is responsible for most of the violence in Iraq and in areas where al Qaeda has been cleared the violence is shrinking to almost nothing like Anbar Province? I think the reason they are ignoring the obvious evidence is their political blinders have driven them to oppose victory there. They also are willfully ignorance of military history and the consequences of following the Democrat policy they have embraced.

While the NY Times editorial board continues to ignore what is happening in Anbar Province others in the media are starting to notice such as this story in the Chicago Tribune. Also note this post on a Michael Yon report from Hit in Anbar.