We’ve seen this type of religious-based violence before, especially in Bosnia. Took a long time to separate the factions and keep the peace, and it has that potential here.

I look at this region as more important to the US than Bosnia was. That is why I stated that, “They (US populace) want to leave this war with their heads up, without the Middle East boiling over.”

Further, on Anbar, there are two things that must be taken into consideration. The fact that the Sunnis are simply teaming up with Americans to oust AQI which only accounts for about 7 % of the violence in Iraq in toto.

But the bigger picture is that Anbar is for the most part a homogenous sector of mostly sunni insurgents. What this means is that for one, success in Anbar is not necessarily translatable throughout the country where the sectarian conflicts are under a higher charge. Sunni’s against AQI is a small deal compared to Sunnis vs. Shias vs. Shias vs. Kurds, and Anbar does not come close to solving that problem.

As for winning and losing, I don’t care about the scorecard, at this point winning and losing is merely rhetoric, and tries to paint the entire conflict into as black and white of a corner as possible.

Anyway, let me help you with the heavy lifting and give some positives:

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/lifestyle-iraq-anbar.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

“The district had no formal Iraqi security forces two years ago. Now it has 1,400 Iraqi soldiers and 1,200 police. Both are commanded by two brothers from the Albu Mahal, a powerful tribe that initially fought the Americans but was one of the first to turn against al Qaeda.

When the Marines go on patrol, it is now often under the direction of an Iraqi sergeant, something unheard of just a few months ago.

Foreign fighters who once streamed in from the Syrian border seem to have vanished: Bohm’s Marines have encountered just one.”

This is from the wild-west Anbar province. As I once told Goose, progress is good, no matter where it comes from. Once the Sunnis realized they did not want to live in the 14th century with Al Quaeda, they came across the wire.

This post lists how the “failed Iraqi Army” is striving to improve:

http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1839448&Language=en

“A press release by the multinational forces said the coalition forces launched a new operation Wednesday evening against Al-Qaeda.
Around 14,000 Iraqi troops took part in the operation with more than 12,000 US soldiers, the statement added.”

As I’ve told you in earlier posts, the Dems have backed themselves into a corner on this war: years of gleeful negative reporting has made them the party of hoped-for defeat (but they suppprt the troops )

But, Americans don’t want to be losers. They want to leave this war with their heads up, without the Middle East boiling over. If the Iraqis cannot defend their borders, and remain a nation-state, what is to stop their neighbors from annexation?