Anbar o Akbar!

After just listening to President Bush’s speech I am struck
by his total conviction to his mission and am confident that he will not give
up the fight until his term in office is over.

The speech’s aim was to improve the morale of our troops and
to give a boost to the flagging Iraqi government. It also gave a poignant
glimpse into the improvement that has been made in Iraq. While it is true that
we are behind schedule there is no doubt that we have been successful in
pushing out the insurgents from their strongholds.

Another insight, this one made by Fox News correspondent
Col. David Hunt, was that Bush brought Maliki to Anbar, a Sunni city. This is
important because the political turmoil in Iraq had boiled over thanks to a
Sunni contingent boycotting the government.

Couple all this with the noticeably, at least to the report
on his speech, improved demeanor expressed by Maliki and it is obvious that
President Bush has pledged his full-fledged support for the leader. This is
important because Maliki has been feeling some pressure from leftist
politicians in this country for not doing “enough” to improve the political
situation in Iraq.

Just remember that it took our country over a decade from
our independence to the time George Washington became our first president. We
had the advantages of being a fairly homogeneous culture without constant
intervention from meddlesome neighbors.

Iraq is the polar opposite of our own founding experience.
They are bordered by a nation that is actively working to force their will on
the fledgling republic. Iraq’s own citizens are at each other’s throats over
religious, cultural, and tribal differences. And they have never really known
what running a country would be like.

All positive change takes time. That is what we need if we
want to have a chance of lasting peace in that region and, by extension, in the
world. Anbar, the province that we were told was lost months ago, is a great
sign that what we are doing can work. It will be a long battle and the chances
of it finishing any time soon is not realistic. I just hope that we have the
political will to enable Iraq’s success. BigT