Ruh-Roh… Iraq Reaches 15 of 18 Benchmarks …Update: Dems say they would have brought "Solid Progress" by retreating!!

UPDATED BELOW–

The success in Iraq is real and the gains have been phenomenal.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (L) talks to residents in a market during his visit to Amara, 300 km (185 miles) southeast of Baghdad, June 23, 2008. Maliki pledged to maintain law and order in the southern city of Amara on Monday, days after a security crackdown that the movement of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said unfairly targeted them. (REUTERS)

Of course, the Associated Press had to put their nasty spin on this wonderful news today…
Because, 5 years is just way to long to build a functioning democracy in the Middle East from a dangerous terror-coddling regime.
The AP reported:

No matter who is elected president in November, his foreign policy team will have to deal with one of the most frustrating realities in Iraq: the slow pace with which the government in Baghdad operates.

Iraq’s political and military success is considered vital to U.S. interests, whether troops stay or go. And while the Iraqi government has made measurable progress in recent months, the pace at which it’s done so has been achingly slow.

The White House sees the progress in a particularly positive light, declaring in a new assessment to Congress that Iraq’s efforts on 15 of 18 benchmarks are “satisfactory” — almost twice of what it determined to be the case a year ago. The May 2008 report card, obtained by the Associated Press, determines that only two of the benchmarks — enacting and implementing laws to disarm militias and distribute oil revenues — are unsatisfactory.

In the past 12 months, since the White House released its first formal assessment of Iraq’s military and political progress, Baghdad politicians have reached several new agreements seen as critical to easing sectarian tensions.

They have passed, for example, legislation that grants amnesty for some prisoners and allows former members of Saddam Hussein’s political party to recover lost jobs or pensions. They also determined that provincial elections would be held by Oct. 1.

But for every small step forward, Iraq has several more giant steps to take before victory can be declared on any one issue.

Unreal!
What a trashy report. It’s no wonder Americans do not understand thay we are winning in Iraq. Even the good news is so slanted you don’t know what the heck your reading.

More good news…
Iraqi officials will take over security responsibility of two more provinces.
Already, the Iraqi democracy is in charge of 9 of its 18 provinces.

The Democratic government of Iraq will take over responsibility of al-Anbar, a province once reported as lost, and Qadisiya (Diwaniya) Province in the coming days. Severe sandstorms prevented the transfer earlier this week.
Gulf 2000 Map

…Look for the pending flip-flop.

Abe Greenwald at Pajamas Media reported on the benchmark success in June.

UPDATE: How did I miss this?
From the AP article:

Democrats also say more solid progress could have been made had the administration starting pulling troops out sooner.

Of course!
The surrender monkeys have convinced themselves that declaring defeat and handing Iraq over to Al-Qaeda and Iran would have brought this same kind of success.
What complete bullsh*t!

UPDATE 2: MNF-Iraq reported- “The enemy in the eastern portion of Iraq’s Anbar province has been neutralized, the coalition commander in the area said June 30.”

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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Thanks for sharing!