It was that shining beacon of hope held up by President Bush in his speech on March 20th of this year to the City Club of Cleveland.
Speaking at the City Club of Cleveland, a free speech forum, the president said developments in Tal Afar show clear progress on the political, security and economic fronts and proof that the Iraqi people want to live in freedom.
Calling the northern Iraqi city with its diverse population “a microcosm of Iraq,” the president said its example “gives me confidence in our strategy.”
Tal Afar’s 200,000 residents lived under the intimidation of insurgents who were using the city as a base to organize, train and equip terror cells.
U.S. and Iraqi forces drove out the insurgents in “Operation Restore Rights,” in fall 2005. Government forces are now rebuilding housing, schools and other facilities. […]
“In this city, we see the outlines of the Iraq that we and the Iraqi people have been fighting for,” Bush said. “A free and secure people are getting back on their feet … (and) participating in government and civic life.” […]
Bush said the strategy for victory is working, and “we know it because the people of Tal Afar are showing their gratitude.” […]
Bush described how the situation in Tal Afar gave rise to the new “clear, hold and build” approach that’s being used throughout Iraq. That strategy builds on cooperation between coalition and Iraqi forces and new capabilities within Iraq’s forces, he said.
“Under this new approach, Iraqi and coalition forces would clear a city of the terrorists, leave well-trained Iraqi units behind to hold the city, and work with local leaders to build the economic and political infrastructure Iraqis need to live in freedom,” the president said.
That was the President on March 20th, explaining the success of our new strategy in Iraq, as evidenced by our success in Tal Afar. This is Tal Afar today:
TAL AFAR, Iraq (Reuters) -A suicide bomber killed 17 people and wounded 35 when he blew his car up in a market in the Iraqi northern city of Tal Afar on Tuesday, police said.
I take no particular satisfaction in pointing out that we’ve been had by Mr. Bush once more, and that Tal Afar isn’t the paradise of safety and security he claimed. I’m not happy to see him proven wrong once again about his strategery for Iraq. I merely want to point out that winning battles in a guerrilla war is not the same as winning the war.
We have gone into Tal Afar twice now and declared victory: in 2004 the 3rd Cavalry cleared out the local insurgents in Tal Afar, but as soon as the 3rd Cav left, those insurgents returned. Now the same thing has happened again. This last time, it was elements of the First Armored Division which drove out the “bad guys” and reinstated law and order, only to see history repeat itself when the city was returned to the control of units of the Iraqi security forces.
Tal Afar is not a success story. It is a ongoing repetitive tragedy with elements of farce. And the saddest thing is that out there wafting in the electronic ether are thousands of emails and blog posts which are still extolling this good news of Tal Afar as proof that we are winning the war in Iraq. That it is just that damn liberal media which refuses to report the good news because they hate President Bush. These people will remain blissfully ignorant of what’s become of George Bush’s touted success story, and the “liberal media” likely won’t disabuse them of that notion.
Because we don’t hear much reporting anymore about Iraq on the nightly news and the cable gabfests, I suspect that no one in the major media will take note of this “security incident” today in Tal Afar. Certainly none of our talking head pundits will. It’s just 17 more Iraqis who died, after all. They don’t have the same reverence for life that we do. They’re just a bunch of crazy muslim extremists murdering each other, and that doesn’t justify spoiling anyone’s supper hour, or upsetting their early evening trance while staring at Chris on MsNBC, Anderson on CNN, or Bill and Sean on Fox. No, the truth about Tal Afar will be ignored, and those who choose to believe in the Gospel of George will have no reason to have their faith challenged. And no reason to have to remember Tal Afar today.
But I will remember.
