Victory!
Zaid Sabah gets down to brass tacks in The Washington Post:
“„A wave of attacks in Baghdad and areas north of the capital Sunday shattered a relative lull in violence, killing 16 people and injuring 15 a day after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared that Iraq’s government had defeated terrorism. …
“„The action coincided with Maliki’s visit to the Emirates, which had withdrawn its ambassador to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, following the kidnapping of one of its diplomats, who was later released. Maliki again stressed that Iraq was becoming more stable.
“„“Our hopes were restricted on improving the security situation, and thank God we succeed in spreading security and direct strong blows to the al-Qaeda and lawbreakers,” Maliki told senior officials in the Emirates.
Since Maliki is now talking about setting a deadline for a U.S. withdrawal — John McCain must think he’s a retreat-and-defeater — maybe the Iraqi premier is just taking George Aiken’s advice.
