Iraq Reborn

What our troops have wrought, and how to preserve it

IN the final days of 2006, Iraq seemed like a lost cause. The second of two U.S. security crackdowns in Baghdad had failed, with insurgents moving back into “cleared” neighborhoods as soon as thinly stretched U.S. battalions moved on to the next fight. At the same time, the Shiite religious militia Jaish al-Mahdi, whose enemies include both al-Qaeda and the U.S., was steadily moving west across the city, battling al-Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents along the way. Civilian deaths due to the attendant sectarian cleansing reached their highest levels ever. Amid all this, Iranian-built bombs were killing a steeply growing number of soldiers. The prospects of the U.S. military mission in Iraq appeared bleak.

WM

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Wesley Morgan

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What our troops have wrought, and how to preserve it

IN the final days of 2006, Iraq seemed like a lost cause. The second of two U.S. security crackdowns in Baghdad had failed, with insurgents moving back into “cleared” neighborhoods as soon as thinly stretched U.S. battalions moved on to the next fight. At the same time, the Shiite religious militia Jaish al-Mahdi, whose enemies include both al-Qaeda and the U.S., was steadily moving west across the city, battling al-Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents along the way. Civilian deaths due to the attendant sectarian cleansing reached their highest levels ever. Amid all this, Iranian-built bombs were killing a steeply growing number of soldiers. The prospects of the U.S. military mission in Iraq appeared bleak.