On PBS last night the Center for American Progress’s Lawrence Korb argued that the Democrats’ taking power in the 2006 congressional elections led to the Anbar Awakening, which was a more important factor than the surge in reducing violence in Iraq. Thankfully Max Boot was on the show to smack down Korb’s nonsense. Here’s Korb:
what began to turn things around in Iraq was, in 2006, after the Democrats won control of the Congress, the — what they called the Sunni insurgents became known as the Sons of Iraq — you had the Al Anbar awakening — said that they would team up with us to go after al-Qaida in Iraq, because al-Qaida in Iraq had been so violent, the things they had done. And they realized that we were not going to be there forever. This is the deal, that that has gotten the violence down in Al Anbar Province, which is where it was the heaviest. And then, even before the surge was completed, in February 2007, Sadr, Muqtada al-Sadr, told his militia to lay down their arms. MARGARET WARNER: But are you saying that the surge, the 20,000 additional combat forces, aren’t a significant factor in why things are more peaceful? LAWRENCE KORB: It was a factor, but was not nearly as big a factor as the Sunni insurgents laying down their arms, because the — we now call them the Sons of Iraq. We are paying them. We are training them. It was about 100,000 of them. But this is a deal we could have had in 2004. We didn’t take it. We took it in 2006, because — after the election.
Here’s Boot:
First, let me, if I could just very quickly, correct a misapprehension that Larry Korb is perpetrating here, the same one that Barack Obama has perpetrated before, which is to say that the success that we are seeing in Iraq as a result of the Democratic victory in the November 2006 election. Now, that is just bizarre, because anybody who has been to Iraq knows that the Al Anbar awakening… LAWRENCE KORB: If you want to correct me, then I’m going to come back, OK? She asked you a question. Answer that one. MAX BOOT: Larry, let me finish my sentence, please. Anybody who has been to Iraq knows that the Al Anbar awakening began in September of 2006, months before the Democrats took office in the United States. And anybody who has been to Iraq recently also knows that there is no way that these brave Sunnis or the Sons of Iraq would be risking their lives if they saw that American troops were on their way out. The only reason they are willing to stand and fight against al-Qaida is because they know that the commitment of the United States remains secure and that we will stand with them.
You can find a transcript and video of the entire exchange here.
