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NAJAF, Iraq - The city's first airport is weeks away from opening, but already a bigger one is talked about. Land prices are soaring. Merchants say they don't remember business ever being so good. Four years ago, Najaf was an urban battlefield, with American troops fighting Shiite militiamen loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Today, the Shiite holy city is a hot spot of a different kind, thanks to improved security, a free-for-all market economy - and a direct pipeline to the Shiite-led government.

WASHINGTON, June 23, 2008 – Violence in Iraq dropped in May to its lowest level in four years, according to a Defense Department report released to Congress today. The quarterly report, required by Congress, measured progress in the country in March through May of this year. The report highlighted that all major violent indicators dropped during the reporting period by as much as 80 percent. “Coalition and Iraqi forces’ operations against al-Qaida in Iraq have degraded its ability to attack and terrorize the population,” the report reads. The report concedes, though, that al-Qaida still remains a major threat, and that...

COMBAT OUTPOST MURRAY — The battlefield in Iraq has become a classroom for military analyst Steven Biddle and several associates, who visited 3rd Infantry Division Soldiers on June 4 to get a sense of progress in the area. Biddle, a four-time visitor to Iraq and the author of two military-themed books entitled “Military Power: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle” and “Afghanistan and the Future of Warfare: Implications for Army and Defense Policy,” said his visit was multi-purposed. “Information in the (U.S.) is limited,” said Biddle, a senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Here,...

Good Judgment? A New Perspective on going to War in Iraq By Phillip J. Longo The Junior Senator from Illinois said in a debate with Mrs. Clinton said; “And on what I believe was the single most important foreign policy decision of this generation -- whether or not to go to war in Iraq -- I believe I showed the judgment of a commander in chief.” That he was right in his decision to vote against the war in Iraq. My fellow Americans, we have heard from Mrs. Clinton that she can make “The Hard” decisions. We have heard from...

Republicans seem lost as a party and here's one solution to bring them back into focus, since the Democrats are falling all over themselves to lose. They are LOSING NATIONALLY ergo Republicans need a WINNING NATIONAL STRATEGY. Hello, MR. NEWT redux...

WASHINGTON, April 14, 2008 – Increased security brought about by military success against insurgents in the western portion of Iraq’s Anbar province is enabling a drawdown of U.S. forces there as well as enhanced regional reconstruction efforts, a senior Marine commander told Pentagon reporters today. Amenah, a 2-year-old Iraqi girl from Haditha, was flown to the United States in February for successful surgery on her ailing heart. Haditha, located in formerly restive western Anbar province, today is experiencing reduced violence and widespread reconstruction. Photo by Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Shawn Coolman  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “The insurgents,...

You hear a lot these days about the chaotic state of the GOP race, which is obviously true insofar as lots of candidates still have a shot at winning. But I don't think it's true in the sense that several candidates have an equal shot of winning. My sense is that Mitt Romney emerges from Michigan with some pretty clear advantages. For one thing, the first kind of chaos ("type 1") makes it pretty tough for Romney's rivals to raise money, which will, perhaps more than anything else, influence the outcome of the 21 February 5th contests. As this Politico piece notes, the GOP's general fundraising environment...

Nearly 6,000 Sunni Arab residents joined a security pact with American forces Wednesday in what U.S. officers described as a critical step in plugging the remaining escape routes for extremists flushed from former strongholds.The new alliance — called the single largest single volunteer mobilization since the war began — covers the "last gateway" for groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq seeking new havens in northern Iraq, U.S. military officials said.U.S. commanders have tried to build a ring around insurgents who fled military offensives launched earlier this year in the western Anbar province and later into Baghdad and surrounding areas. In...

Violence in Iraq has fallen at a rate that has surprised military commanders and even one of the architects of the “surge” that boosted US troop numbers in the country this year, according to figures gathered by the US. The figures show the numbers of suicide attacks, roadside bombings, mortar and other attacks on US forces and on the Iraqi population have more than halved since 30,000 extra troops in June. The military attributes the decline to the surge, the spread of local ceasefire deals across Iraq, a ceasefire by radical Shia militias and an improvement in the Iraqi security...

Mitt Romney, campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination with a name less known than Rudy Giuliani, says he will win his party's nod the old-fashioned way. The traditional campaign strategy of focusing on the premier contests in Iowa and New Hampshire is a proven recipe for success, Romney says in an interview with the Associated Press. Writer Liz Sidoti reports from Sioux City, Iowa, that the former Massachusetts governor believes he is "just following the same path that every nominee for president has followed.'' ...snip... ""I'm outworking them. That's what I'm going to do," Romney said of his Republican rivals....

I realize everything can change fast in Iowa and New Hampshire, and some are rightly skeptical about the value of polling in a caucus state. I also recognize that some pollsters' methods of figuring out who's a "likely voter" are better than others. But if I were a Romney guy, I'd be pretty pleased about the trends in those two primary states. Romney's had a lead in the Hawkeye state for a while, but that lead seems to be growing, across several pollsters. Romney is up 16 on his nearest competitor (Huckabee) in Zogby, up 8 on his nearest competitor...

Progress in Iraq Real, Momentum Growing, Odierno Says Iraq: Job Won IBD ^ | November 2, 2007 War On Terror: With killings of both U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians down sharply, both al-Qaida and Iran may believe they have lost the Iraq War. Thanks to the surge, our mission just might largely be accomplished. U.S. military deaths were recorded at 36 for October, down from 65 in September, according to an Associated Press count. Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Baghdad, last week said the deaths of coalition forces have declined for five straight months and...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2007 – While parts of Iraq remain violent and difficult, the Iraqi people are taking back their country with the help of U.S. troops, President Bush said during a speech on Fort Jackson, S.C., today. Bush spoke to soldiers graduating from basic training at the post. He told them that many of them will be serving in Iraq or Afghanistan as they continue their Army careers. There has been tremendous progress in Iraq, the president said, but more must be done. “The enemy remains determined, but what they have learned about the United States of America is,...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2007 – Iraqi citizens are increasingly coming together to voluntarily battle al Qaeda in Iraq, thereby saving American lives and reshaping military operations in the country, a coalition commander said today. “The willingness of the Sunni population to turn on (al Qaeda) has been a watershed in this war; there’s no other word for it,” Army Col. Martin Stanton told online journalists and “bloggers” during a conference call from Baghdad. Stanton is chief of reconciliation and engagement for Multinational Corps Iraq. “The ‘concerned local citizens’ are responsible for a significant drop in U.S. casualties,” he said. For...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2007 – A multi-pronged approach to conflict resolution that includes military force coupled with a powerful social push is vital to winning over hearts and minds and countering insurgents’ lure, a U.S. Central Command official said today. During a news conference at the Foreign Press Club here, Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert H. Holmes, deputy director of operations for U.S. Central Command, told reporters that his command is exploring a counterinsurgency concept called “effects synchronization.” “This is a new approach to looking at all of the national and international instruments of power that actually go beyond the...

Iraqi soldiers can fight. That’s something Americans serving alongside them have not always said with complete confidence. At the individual and small-unit level, Iraqis have been fighting well for close to three years. But only now are U.S. troops seeing the dramatic kinds of improvements and capabilities among the brigade and division-sized Iraqi units that one might expect from similarly trained Western forces. Much of the success of the Iraqi army is a result of training and operational leadership on the part of coalition forces, primarily — at least from my vantage point while there — U.S., British, and Australian...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretarySeptember 8, 2007 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       In Focus: Iraq THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Earlier this week, I traveled to Iraq's Anbar Province to visit our troops and see with my own eyes the remarkable changes they are making possible. If you want to see some photos from this trip, go to whitehouse.gov where you can view a slideshow of my visit. Success in Anbar is critical to the democratic future of Iraq and to the war on terror. This largely Sunni province covers nearly a third of Iraq....

Taking Islamofascists at their word http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/syndicated/story/3676104p-13063342c.html DEROY MURDOCK: Taking Islamofascists at their word -- Scripps Howard News Service Published: Thursday, August 9, 2007 NEW YORK Give Islamic extremists this: They are as clear as the desert sunshine about their plans for us infidels. Unlike America's former Cold War enemies, who swaddled their barbed wire and ballistic missiles in warm words about proletarian liberation, Muslim hotheads state their intentions with disarming candor. "The wave of the Islamic revolution will soon reach the entire world," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said. "One of the primary responsibilities of the Muslim ruler is to...

WINNING IN IRAQ By RALPH PETERS July 26, 2007 -- TO a military professional, the tactical progress made in Iraq over the last few months is impressive. To a member of Congress, it's an annoyance. The herd animals on Capitol Hill - from both parties - just can't wait to go over the cliff on Iraq. And even when the media mention one or two of the successes achieved by our troops, the reports are grudging. Yet what's happening on the ground, right now, in Baghdad and in Iraq's most-troubled provinces, contributes directly to your security. In the words of...

ARLINGTON, Va., July 19, 2007 – Winning the war against terrorism requires warriors with multiple skills who can adapt to changing circumstances, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here last night. Today’s anti-terror war is unlike any other conflict the United States has fought before, Gates told Marine Corps Association members. In Afghanistan and Iraq, “the men and women wearing our nation’s uniform have assumed the roles of warrior, diplomat, humanitarian, and development expert,” Gates pointed out, noting ruthless extremists employ roadside bombs and guerilla-style hit-and-run attacks to kill or wound U.S. and coalition forces, host-nation troops and innocent civilians....