White House, press briefing by Tony Snow, 9/12/07:
Q So essentially, if [Gen. Petraeus's recommendation] goes through, you're pulling out the troops that you had intended to pull out anyway, because they were temporary -- but you're leaving in at least 130,000. So how can you say there is so much success?
MR. SNOW: Again, Ed, you are assuming that there has been no success, that there have been no changes on the ground in Iraq since the surge began. When the surge began, Anbar was effectively in [the] control of al Qaeda. Diyala was a place where there was gathering strength with al Qaeda. Same thing with Ninevah. You had a number of provinces throughout Iraq where al Qaeda was gaining strength. Since then you have had a dramatic reversal in the fortunes of Anbar province to the extent that people who have been there have talked about how dramatic it is in terms of their perceptions.
Good thing he milked that right away, because the news from Anbar this morning was pretty bad.
Associated Press:
The most prominent figure in a revolt of Sunni sheiks against al-Qaida in Iraq was killed Thursday in an explosion near his home in Anbar province, Iraqi police said.
Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha was leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, an alliance of clans backing the Iraqi government and U.S. forces.
Abu Risha and two of his bodyguards were killed by a roadside bomb, said Col. Tareq Youssef, supervisor of Anbar police.
Couldn't have happened at a worse time. Bush is going to address the nation tonight and use all this success against al Qaeda in Anbar as an excuse to stay in Iraq until the sun goes cold. It's probably all written out all nice and pretty and everything...
[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]
