Iraqis know first hand that the Bush surge is working.
They fear Barack Obama will undercut the tremendous security gains.
Iraqi children gather around U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Haggard for a group photo during Youth Outreach Day on Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Tikrit, Iraq, July 12, 2008. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Micky M. Bazaldua.)
Every once in a while the AP releases a flicker of truth in its antiwar propaganda pieces.
Today the AP bravely reports that a Barack Obama presidency scares the crap out of Iraqis:
Like many Iraqis, Sami and his family are impatient for some direct benefits to come their way.
Sami’s family, too, represents the questions many Iraqis have about Obama’s views.
The family strongly backed last year’s U.S. troop “surge” that is now credited with halting much of the insurgency attacks and sectarian killings in and around the capital.
Obama, who criticized the reinforcements at the time, has lauded the military successes, but argues that sending 30,000 additional soldiers to Iraq pulled away focus from the widening battles against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan and border regions of Pakistan.
Sami also supports the idea of a slow pullback by U.S. forces — not the rapid withdrawal that Obama has suggested…
But few Iraqis appear to support a full-scale American withdrawal under current conditions. Many fear that could undercut recent security gains and open the door to greater influence by Iran with Shiite militias — a charge that Tehran denies.
“A pullout would create a vacuum that could be used by many sides,” said Salah al-Rubaie, a Shiite vegetable vendor in Kut, about 90 miles southeast of Baghdad. “Sectarian and militia killings would return as well as looting and robbing. Public life could come to a halt again. That would be a catastrophe.”
Hamid Alwan Jassim finds ample evidence against a U.S. withdraw in his home city of Baqouba, the hub of Diyala province where Sunni insurgents are trying to regroup. On Tuesday, double suicide bombings killed at least 28 army recruits.
“Iraq should be stable first, because any early pullout would allow extremists to emerge again and more fiercely,” he said.
Let’s hope the AP writers do not find their private property torched because of this report.
