We are Winning, Part 2 (if the left and the GOP Senate let us)

Senate Republicans are calling "for Iraqi forces to take the lead next year in securing the nation and for the Bush administration to lay out its strategy for ending the war." The strategy was laid out for anyone willing to listen at the State of the Union address. As Iraqis step up we will step down. They are stepping up. We can soon begin the step down process. The left has to get us out of Iraq soon because we are winning and only a premature pullout will save them from another “Bush was right” moment.

Operation Steel Curtain continues in its goal of restoring Iraq’s borders to Iraqis. Terrorists, many of whom are foreigners and al Qaeda, are systematically being killed, captured or forced to leave the al Qaim region. Iraqi and coalition forces swept the city of Husaybah from east to west, driving the terrorists into nearby Karabilah. Now Karabilah has been secured and both cities will continue to be secured by the Iraqi Army. Once the locals realize that the area will be continuously held they wholeheartedly lend their support to the operation by telling us who supported the terrorists, where they are hiding, where weapons and ammo are located as well as other intell. Yesterday began the task of capturing Ubaydi, 20 km from the Syrian border

Every day the Iraqi armed forces are getting better trained, more experienced, and better equipped. Gradually they take over operations, bases, towns, and whole regions freeing up American and other coalition forces who can then further take the fight to other areas. Iraq is getting smaller and smaller for the terrorist. Since September Forward Operating Base Lima in Karbala, Camp Zulu in As Suwayrah, and one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces in his home town of Tikrit, Forward Operating Base Dagger have been turned over to Iraqi Forces. 25 bases in all are now in full Iraqi control. 6th Iraqi Army Division took over authority of the Kharkh, Rusafa, Thawra and Adhamiyah districts of Baghdad on Oct. 3. This is not a quagmire as the left likes to portray it, we are winning. Fallujah is firmly in our control, there are no al Qaeda bases left in country and we are now securing the Syrian border. You can never fully cut off smuggling routes but the ability to come and go across the Syrian Iraqi border gets more difficult every day. Its now easier for al Qaeda to slip across American borders than Iraqi borders, at least in the West. The Iranian border will be next.

We hear of each American Armed Forces casualty but not of their bravery or success. While we continue to have our brave soldiers killed, we are also killing the enemy, but there is no point in reporting those deaths, that won’t help the left’s anti-war effort. More important is the number of suspects captured, 202 since November 1st according to Multi-National Force Iraq press releases. That includes the capture of Hamid Sharki Shadid, the leader of the New Ba’ath Party in Diyala Province. Asadallah and Abu Zahra, two known al Qaeda leaders, and Majid Adnon Swedowi,head of a terrorist network in Ramadi, have been killed. Along with the suspects huge caches of ammunition, AK 47s, mortars and other munitions are being captured, discovered or identified by friendly Iraqis.

All of these suspects may not be terrorists, we just released 500 other suspects from custody, but many were caught red handed. If McCain has his way we will have to treat these guys with all the rights criminals in America get with no hope of interrogating them without their ACLU lawyers present. If the Senate has it’s way we will be seen as dictating to the Iraqis that they need to step up in their defense of Iraq, something they are already doing. Bryan Preston at Michell Malkins's site asks ..” how much worse would a Democrat senate majority really be? The GOPers spend too much, they killed ANWR drilling again, and they're making moves on the war that are at least head-scratchers and probably counterproductive to actually winning the war.”

Update:

The terrorists are making a last stand at Ubaydi. Bill Roggio at The Fourth Rail reports:

Since the assault force of Operation Steel Curtain moved from Husaybah and Karabilah to Ubaydi early Monday, eighty insurgents and terrorists have been killed in the town, with thirty killed since just last evening. Over 150 insurgents are believed to have been captured since Steel Curtain began.

Operation Steel Curtain has had a noticeable impact on the terrorist’s supply chain. Reports indicate 36 weapons caches, including “several that contained suicide vests and bomb making material”, along with 107 IEDs and multiple homes rigged as bombs have been discovered. These are weapons that will not be able to be used to disrupt the upcoming parliamentary election on December 15th.

With Husaybah, Karabilah and Sa’dah hosting a strong Coalition contingent directly on the Syrian border, Coalition forces holding the bridges and roads eastward, and the borders essentially closed down at Tal Afar in the north and Rutbah in the south, the insurgents in the region may be finding it difficult to move around and reestablish a base of operations elsewhere. Jihadis attempting to flee the battlefield are resorting to humiliating tactics to evade capture; “Several detainees were captured trying to sneak out of the area by crawling among a flock of sheep.” Such is the state of the mighty warriors of Zarqawi.

BTW Bill will be sending himself to Iraq next month to better report the war. Go to his site and lend a little support.