Biggest Iraq Threat Lies in Washington

Amir Taheri has an excellent column in the New York Post today updating the situation in Iraq and noting the insurgents and Shiite militias are facing enormous problems. Realizing they cannot defeat us militarily, their strategy is to play the useful idiots in Washington, where, sadly, they have made great inroads. Read the whole piece, but the kicker is here.

The Iraqi version of the Taliban, plus al Qaeda and Shiite mischief-makers, can't win a military victory in Iraq just as their counterparts in Afghanistan failed to achieve victory.

With a combination of intelligence, patience and determination, Petraeus can win in Baghdad.

The battleground where his chances do not appear as good is Washington. The United States today has become home to a veritable industry of defeat - producing books, TV documentaries, research papers, intelligence analyses and feature movies destined for a growing market. Almost every day, some article assuming that the United States has already been defeated in Iraq, and recommend measures to deal with the consequences of defeat. And when the United States does something, it does it Big: The defeat industry is assuming a bewildering scale.