Hope continues

More news of progress being made in Iraq from an unlikely source, this time from German uber-magazine, Der Spiegel. The lengthy and well-written article gives a balanced look at the situation in Iraq at the moment, which essentially is not great but is on the mend and certainly full of hope.

Ramadi is an irritating contradiction of almost everything the world thinks it knows about Iraq -- it is proof that the US military is more successful than the world wants to believe. Ramadi demonstrates that large parts of Iraq -- not just Anbar Province, but also many other rural areas along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers -- are essentially pacified today. This is news the world doesn't hear: Ramadi, long a hotbed of unrest, a city that once formed the southwestern tip of the notorious "Sunni Triangle," is now telling a different story, a story of Americans who came here as liberators, became hated occupiers and are now the protectors of Iraqi reconstruction.

What I would love would be for President Bush to go before Congress when he brings General Petraeus to give an assessment of the current situation in September. Let Bush admit that he made serious mistakes in the early conduct of the war (or at least after the first two months), reach out his hand a bit and thank the Congress for its continued vigilance in seeking what some might call a "strong finish" to this war, and say that now that this strategy is working let's all move forward together and work towards a free Iraq.