The latest in Iraq

Onward to victory in Iraq. Lately on the news we have heard either nothing about what is happening in Iraq, or only focussed discussion on the expiration of the UN mandate on Dec. 31st of this year. So what has been happening in Iraq?

This week the US turned over control of another Iraqi province; Babil. This region was once known as "Death's Triangle" because of the insurgent attacks, road side bombs, and suicide bombs. In the last year and a half the number of attacks and deaths have dropped 80%. Strange doesn't that coincide with the troop surge? The coalition plan has always been to turn control of provinces over to the Iraqi government as quickly as possible. Now 12 of the 18 Iraqi provinces have returned to Iraqi control.

So what is happening with the UN mandate? Are the Iraqi's going to just ask us to leave? Would you be surprised if I told you NO? The current negotiations between the Iraqi government and the US government concerning our future relationship with Iraq do not hinge around whether we remain close. They do not even hinge around whether we keep troops there. The negotiations right now are encountering the heaviest resistance regarding whether or not the Iraqi government will have the authority to prosecute US military personnel, or whether those trials will be handle by military tribunals.

The current agreement states that as of June 2009 all US military personnel will be stationed in bases in Iraq, instead of deployed throughout the country in the streets. Evidently the notions that the Iraqis want us to leave are wrong. I'm sure they do not want our tanks driving up and down thier streets. I do not want our tanks driving up and down my streets! I would like to point out that we already have an agreement with Iraq for continued support.

Of those provinces now left under the control of US troops, excluding Iraq, they are all part of a desert region bordering Iran. In other words, Iraq seems very content to let us sit between them and there arch nemesis. We ought to be grateful for this development. It allows us the ability to stop insurgents from recieving weapons from Iran, which has happened with ridiculous abandon. It also gives us cites for bases to spy on Iran. We now have ability to help isolate Iraq as it grows and strengthens.

How are things in Iraq? They seem to be going fairly well to me. That's probably why we haven't heard much about it on the news.