William Shawcross writes in the Guardian on the Iraqi elections:
For the defeatists who two years ago believed that a military solution to the violence and chaos in Iraq was impossible — and Obama must be included among them — now is the time for revision. According to Joe Klein, Maliki and his Dawa party succeeded in these elections because “he wooed and won Muqtada al-Sadr supporters.” That’s a funny way to describe a strategy that, last April, Klein was attacking as “the Maliki government’s recent abortive offensive against Sadr’s forces in Basra.” In fact, the offensive was just one of many tactical success facilitated by the surge of U.S. forces ordered by President Bush and almost universally opposed by his betters at Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times. Imagine if Obama and Klein had had their way in January of 2007. Where would Iraq be now?
