Saturday, December 22, 2007

Man of the Year

Iain is right, it should have been Patreus.




I don't think many of us really saw what has been a substantial turn around in Iraq coming. Who would have thought, before the surge began, that we could ever see a sub-headline like this one in the Guardian: "Attacks plummet as Shias join Sunnis in neighbourhood patrols to tackle militants and reunite communities".

Things aren't perfect. Political progress is elusive and there are still some very unpleasant sectarian confrontations going on. It could still go wrong but there is now a very real possibility of a decent outcome in Iraq. That's an amazing achievement.

2 comments:

James Higham said...

A positive hope. A dear desire.

Ruthie said...

Even Newsweek, which has become as liberal and biased as the day is long, begrudgingly admitted that he's turned things around.