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Update: (original story below) The BBC has reporter Hugh Sykes on the ground in Baghdad and guess what he is reporting:

The BBC’s Hugh Sykes, in Baghdad, says Mr Bush’s decision to land in Anbar province is significant.

Anbar, west of Baghdad, has often been referred to as the centre of the Sunni insurgency, but the US now believes it has greatly reduced the threat from Sunni Arab militant groups, such as al-Qaeda in Iraq, our correspondent says.

Several imams have been killed for supporting US-led forces and preaching against al-Qaeda in Iraq at Friday prayers, and many local tribes have turned against the insurgents, he adds.

Another defection from the narrative? I have a question? Why did it take so long for the press to cover the news that Michael Yon has been reporting for quite some time?

Actually I also have an answer. The Democrats bet their bottom dollar on defeat. It went beyond the standard “the war is failing” drumbeat to a coordinated effort to sabotage the effort by turning American sentiment against it before it had even begun. Now they sit here 4 years later and it looks like the change of course they asked for is actually showing results. Worse for the Democrats though is that they even called the change of course a failure in advance of the actual surge. Things were no different in the infancy of the surge, in some instances Democrats blatantly ignored the fact that a change of course had actually taken place. Now their approval ratings are at historic lows.

The media had no small part in this effort. On January 5th the Washington Post printed an editorial blog post: The Overrated General Petraeus. This was an attempt to smear Patreus before he even set foot in the command position. Now they are looking, well, stupid.

But still I ask, why the optimism? Though Petraeus may be an intellectual and promotional wizard, I have a hard time seeing any true success and product from his early work in or on Iraq.

Yeah, we sure wouldn’t have wanted to be optimistic that a change in command would work! Thanks for your support.

My supposition is that both the media and the Democrats are trying to build up cover just in case the surge works. The betting man will take the odds that General Patreus will be granted more time to work on a strategy that is showing results. It is in the best interest of Democrats to try and bury their ugly sins of non-support for a win in Iraq by slowly moving away from that stance. I can’t recall any time over the last couple of years that the Democrats have said anything good about the War in Iraq, the military or even Iraqi’s who are working along side coalition forces; until recently. That probably isn’t the best way to enter an election at a time when it is looking that perhaps this can be pulled together.

Nonetheless I still imagine that we will be treated with more leaks by political supporters of Democrats and none of those leaks will be in support of the war. Strange, how people in the government seem to have no problem leaking reports that are designed to undercut the war effort. Republican leakers? I think not, that leaves just one other party that is stocked full of people who can’t afford to see the United States win.

Speaking of anti-American ass wipes, the comment section of the Huffington Post is filled with the standard lefty support for Bush’s visit:

• SamBrown (See profile | I’m a fan of SamBrown)
  How irresponsible! He’s just doing this for the ratings.
• bamabarrron (See profile | I’m a fan of bamabarrron)

  it is worse then irresponsible … all those troops immediately around his noble ass are stripped of live ammo. how would you feel, being used as a stage propr, stripped of your live ammo and right in the middle of a war zone. you can bet the troops cant wait to see bush’s backside as he is leaving.

  the arsehole is endangering everyone of them by this stupidity. well, hopefully at least this time, he didn’t try to feed them a plastic turkey.

I have a special spot for Delores DeVries who calls for the assassination of Bush, “Next time bring out the Stingers” and then follows up with a response in defense when called on it:

DeloresDeVries (See profile | I’m a fan of DeloresDeVries)

Someday when you grow up you might learn english language comprehension.

I certainly DO advocate getting rid of the 2 most evil people on earth, Bush and Cheney by whatever means available. Also lowlife Nazi scum that support them, meaning YOU.

Now scurry off, ya little piece of Nazi shit and tell your Gestapo. GIT!!!!

That is after the user posted the following in a previous post (these people are what I call the “Huffington stars”. Arianna should be proud of herself.):

America will soon be all alone with their facist occupation.

Someone should bomb the fuck out of the Green Zone good and proper and do the world a favor. posted 09/03/2007 at 08:58:43

Aren’t these lefties great? Couldn’t have a better bunch of terrorist supporters if we sent them to a madrassa ourselves.

Original Report:
=================

President Bush took an unscheduled visit to Iraq. He boarded a plane that was originally scheduled as a visit to Australia and instead flew for 11 hours overnight to address the troops and military leaders in advance of the report by General Petraeus. The last time President Bush visited Iraq was in June of 2006.

The President was accompanied by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. They are meeting with military leaders and Iraqi political leaders at the Al Asad Air Base in Iraq’s Anbar province. This visit is a crucial stop as it will be integral in determining the future of Iraq.

In a surprise trip shrouded in secrecy, President Bush and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have traveled to a remote air base in western Iraq for a meeting with senior U.S. military leaders and the top Iraqi political leadership.

[~snip]

Senior officials traveling with Gates portrayed the visit as a chance to hear directly from the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker one last time before making decisions about the future course for the U.S. military in Iraq.

“Nothing beats the opportunity to look David Petraeus in the eye and Ambassador Crocker and say, ‘What’s the situation? What do you think?’” a senior defense official told reporters en route to Iraq.

In an extraordinary move, the top Iraqi political leaders, representing Iraq’s primary sectarian groups, traveled to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq’s Anbar province for the meeting: Prime Minister Nouri Kamel al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh.

For Maliki, a Shia, it is only his third trip as prime minister to the Sunni-dominated Anbar province.

The president and Gates are also meeting for the first time with local Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar. The tribal sheikhs began cooperating with the U.S. military earlier this year in the fight against al Qaeda in Iraq, causing a dramatic reduction in violence. (src. ABC News)

This is interesting news. The press and most everyone on the far left has been having a meltdown over the prospect that Petraeus’s report will show more progress than any of them had hoped possible. Of course they will cherry pick the failed marks and try every way possible to continue the drumbeat for defeat.

In related news pigs are flying and Katie Couric is reporting good things about the military effort in Iraq after her tour with General Petraeus. Her report in a nutshell: the surge is working and that General Petraeus is an impressive military leader (h/t Newsbusters).

Well, Bob, I think he’s going to talk a lot about Anbar province, which is west of Baghdad, and an Anbar awakening if you will. He took me to Fallujah, which really he believes is a crowning achievement for U.S. forces in Iraq and a role model if you will.

Fallujah, if you remember Bob, was one of the deadliest cities in this country with terrible fighting. Those four contractors were murdered there. And U.S. forces actually were ordered to retreat from that city back in 2004. But what happened is al Qaeda came in, and tribal leaders realized they did not want to live under a brutal al Qaeda regime.

So, they enlisted the help of U.S. soldiers and U.S. troops because they realized they could not fight al Qaeda alone. So, suddenly these former enemies had a common enemy, worked together, and now Fallujah is relatively calm, reconstruction efforts are under way, and as I said, it is really being considered a crowning achievement. And this is just one city in Anbar province. Ramadi is another example of that as well, where Sunnis and U.S. forces are working together to really a great effect.

Whoa, the mainstream media is actually on board with a message that has been coming from the U.S. side of Iraq! See what I mean about pigs flying? I hear hell froze over for a moment as well.

When asked if the General was going to report that the surge is working Couric responded in the affirmative.

I definitely got that impression. I think he concedes there’s certainly areas of Iraq that are really difficult and are true trouble spots. Al Qaeda in the north, Shiite militias in the south of, of Baghdad. Still a lot of insurgency, and still a lot of sectarian violence even in Baghdad. But, I believe he thinks these are not just pockets of success, what I mentioned about Fallujah and Ramadi.

We’ll wait to see how the left spins this news but since its labor day we’ll just enjoy the short holiday.

See Also : Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, Wizbang

Trackposted to third world county, Right Truth, DragonLady’s World, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, High Desert Wanderer, Stageleft, and Adeline and Hazel, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Correction: Updated the last visit to Iraq with correct date.

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