The latest liberal whine
Anbar? Not really an American success.
ThinkProgress accuses Bush of claiming responsibility for the Anbar Awakening when it was really the local sheiks who helped turn the tide in the province months earlier. (Interestingly, he says no such thing in the speech linked in the article–he’s only congratulating the local troops for their service). The local sheiks who turned against al Qaeda didn’t do so until they were sure that the several thousand battle-hardened marines camping out in places like Fallujah and Ramadi weren’t leaving anytime soon. The hard lessons learned there found themselves rolled into the Surge strategy in an attempt to replicate that success in other troubled provinces. So, yes, dammit, we can claim some responsibility for success in Anbar.
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