Democratic Culture Advances in Iraq

The new ABC News poll of citizens in Iraq holds some of the most important findings on the long-term implications for American intervention in that nation, and on the some of the questions of U.S. foreign policy in the years ahead. The survey notes that the poll findings "represent a stunning reversal of the spiral of despair caused by Iraq's sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007. The sweeping rebound, extending initial improvements first seen a year ago, marks no less than the opportunity for a new future for Iraq and its people."

Read the whole thing at the link. The article includes a lengthy analysis of the prospect in Iraq for instititution building and the growth of democratic culture.

But let me share Sister Toldjah's brief comments as well, which are perfectly stated:

Thanks to President Bush, McCain, and others for hanging tough and not bowing to the political will of the cut and run lefties in Congress. And millions of thanks to our men and women in uniform who have played a large role in making all of this possible. The surge has produced fruitful results that even the average Iraqi is noticing, results that would not have been possible had it been for the defeatists in Congress like then-Senator-now-President Barack Obama.

"Not bowing to the political will" is in fact one of the most substantial political victories of the conservative right for these last 6 years, and I'd like to reiterate the thanks to America's valiant service personnel and their families for their sacrifice and élan amid a domestic political environment eminently less supportive than our forces deserve (see, for example, David Horowitz and Ben Johnson's, Party of Defeat).

(Note: The findings are not all positive. A majority of Iraqis disapprove of the U.S. decision to send troops to their country. Perhaps lefties will pick up on that angle in their rebuttals to the polls findings. But no one, not even Steve at the nihilist Newshoggers, can rightly attack the neoconservative vision of democracy promotion in the face of stunning poll results such as these).

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QUICK UPDATE: I just checked for broken links and it turns out that Newshoggers is indeed up with a response to the poll, "Another Year, Another Iraqi Attitudes Poll":

Maybe Iraqis are right to feel so optimistic, given how much less violent their lives have become compared with the last three years. But the last time their trust was misplaced and this time the looming spectre of violence hangs just around the corner again. No, there's been no American "victory" worth the name in Iraq.

Yeah. Right. This is sour defeatist grapes and postmodern denialism, pure and simple.

As the poll notes, "a substantial number of Iraqis, 42 percent, are concerned that security may in fact worsen after U.S. forces leave. But few are "very" concerned. Most Iraqis appear eager to move ahead under their own steam."

That's right, on their own steam, which means with their own freedom. Security is central to the development of a democratic society. In just six years since the toppling of Saddam Hussein a majority in the country "support a unified Iraq with its central government in Baghdad, up 12 points from its low in March 2007."

These are the indicators of nation-building. The Iraqis are under no illusions that sectarian violence has been permanently eliminated, but the results at the poll are simply stunning in the type of transformation in outlook we've seen in the country. As always, the global collective left will excoriate alleged American imperialism, but the antiwar types are looking more stupid all the time in simultaneously repudiating the war on the one hand and in taking credit for the pending troop redeployment out of the country on the other (as previously noted, in "Majority Says Iraq War a Success, Poll Finds ").

The war in Iraq has been won. I reported the news in late 2007. Americans should be celebrating with parades for the historic significance of the U.S. victory there.