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U.S. Surge Helps A Divided Iraq Stifle Violence And Stop Al-Qaida

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2007

More and more Iraqis are standing up to terrorists and the results are worth celebrating.

Rocket and mortar attacks are down. Streets are safer for shopping and travel. Fewer soldiers and civilians are being wounded and killed.

The controversial surge of U.S. troops into Baghdad is doing what Gen. David Petraeus predicted it would do. Whether the gains can be sustained is an unanswered question, but at least temporarily, the strength and influence of al-Qaida has been diminished. Iraqis, helped by U.S. troops working off base at the neighborhood level, have fought back hard against insurgents and troublemakers of all stripes.

A model of cooperation begun in Anbar province in the west is being repeated in other parts of the country. Sunni tribal leaders have turned against al-Qaida. Local militias have transformed Anbar, one of the most violent areas in Iraqi, into one that's much more secure.

Iraqis standing their ground in both Sunni and Shia neighborhoods leave terrorists little space to operate. Tuesday in a suburb 12 miles south of Baghdad, a gang of al-Qaida fighters attacked an Iraqi neighborhood patrol. The Iraqi citizens, helped by U.S. troops, drove them off and left 15 terrorists dead. If al-Qaida thugs return, they can expect more of the same.

Some of these armed residents are volunteers, but about 17,000 of them in central Iraq are paid $300 a month by the United States to man checkpoints and help with guard duty. It's an investment that works.

As U.S. troop levels are now gradually lowered, the responsibility will shift more heavily to Iraqis to maintain the order achieved during the bloodiest year of the war for the U.S.-led coalition.

By this summer, the surge will be over. But faster withdrawal of troops now, as some members of Congress urge, would be dangerously premature.

What will happen with lower troop levels is hard to predict. But peace now has a better chance than this time last year.

Baghdad neighborhoods have segregated along ethnic lines as Iraqis fled to areas where they felt safer. In a nation on the brink of civil war, separation helped save lives. Many refugees left the country altogether but a few of them are now said to be coming back to help rebuild.

The general reduction in Sunni-Shia violence has allowed everyday citizens to focus on their own stake in the future. Increasingly they are realizing that until they rid themselves of murderous terrorists and their hateful politics, Iraq will continue to self-destruct. Iraqis are increasingly finding and reporting stockpiles of weapons and explosives, which helps explain the downturn in rocket and mortar attacks.

Leaders at the local level have gained popularity by organizing an effective anti-terror resistance. These local power bases work against national democratic unity, but until the fires are out, Iraqis can't be expected to sit calmly around a table and negotiate reconciliation.

Perhaps Iraq won't soon evolve into the model of brotherhood and stability that President Bush envisioned when he ordered the invasion that drove Saddam Hussein from power. The time has come to redefine victory in terms less absolute but no less protective of U.S. interests, and Iraqis'.

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