A post from December 2007:
Yesterday, the debate moderator at the Republican debate did not ask a single question about Iraq, the surge or anything directly related. In fact, Iraq came into the conversation indirectly when candidates where talking about future threats to the US.
Whatever happened to Iraq? Why aren't we getting, at least, the same number of stories about Abu Garib as we are US soldiers destroying Al Qaeda?
The answer is that too many in the media, and specially Democrats, bet on the wrong horse in Iraq.
"As al Qaeda suffered greater and greater losses in Iraq, recruiting became a serious problem.
In desperation, leaders were ordered to recruit whoever they could. This meant more women and more teenage males.
Normally, al Qaeda does not like to employ adolescents.
They are too inexperienced and unreliable.
That combination gets everyone in trouble, and adult al Qaeda do not like to work with kids.
But earlier this year, al Qaeda found that fewer and fewer adults were willing to join up.
This was largely due to U.S. troops capturing several key al Qaeda leaders, and lots of membership records.
Too many al Qaeda members were being arrested or killed, and recruiting became very difficult.
So kids were hired for a lot of simple jobs, like placing roadside bombs, or guard duty.
Turned out that these kids were more likely to run away, or just surrender, if confronted with Iraqi or American troops.
As a result of that, nearly half the al Qaeda under arrest (950 of 2,000) are under 18. Only about eight percent of the terrorists held by U.S. forces are al Qaeda.
The rest belong to various Iraqi militias or terror groups (most of them Sunni Arab.) Al Qaeda is the most hated terror group, because of the heavy use of large suicide bombs against civilians. And with this recruitment of children, who are easy to interrogate, and convert to government supporters, the government now knows more about what the terrorist organization is up to."
Wow! So much for the theory that the invasion of Iraq was a gift to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda! It'd be nice to do a poll in the region and check out Obama's approval ratings! Wonder if he has better ratings than the Pelosi-Reid Congress?
Again, we congratulate US troops for the incredible work in Iraq. We salute Gen. Petraeus for his leadership.
Of course, we recognize President Bush for doing the right thing rather than reading polls!
Of course, we recognize President Bush for doing the right thing rather than reading polls!