Iraqi Opinion, Ctd

Following up on last week's post on the views of ordinary Iraqis comes testimony from those in daily contact with Iraqis--American soldiers, in a Weekly Standard article by Jeff Emanuel:

"It would be a disaster if you leave now," said Lt. Colonel James Crider, Squadron commander of the 1-4 Cavalry ("Quarter Cav"). "I've had several Iraqis tell me that. They want us here--not forever, but for now, until they can take care of themselves."

"I had people coming up to me as we patrolled the neighborhoods saying, 'We heard you were leaving!'" another officer with Quarter Cav told me. "They don't understand our process; they don't know that this is just rhetoric, or that it will be vetoed. All they know is that the leaders of our Congress said that it's a lost cause, and that our government has voted to pick up and go home."

Such statements by America's political leaders are "terrible," an Army public affairs officer told me. She continued, "I understand political posturing and all that but it really is terrible."

Of course, the Iraqis must share some heavy lifting:

Another obstacle to success, though, is the Iraqi people themselves. "What has to happen here," one noncommissioned officer told me, "is that the Iraqi people have to take a chance, risk their lives, and stand up against al Qaeda and everybody else. Once they decide that they want freedom and peace, and want to work with us, then it will all be over. . . . It's easy to live as a coward. If they want to be free, they will have to take the risk."

That risk has finally been taken by a good number of the people in Anbar Province, an area that has seen a turnaround in the past six months that has been nothing short of remarkable. It is happening in a somewhat different way in southwestern Baghdad, in the district of Abu Dischir, where, rather than throwing out the large number of Sadrists present in the area, the people have learned to coexist peacefully both with the sectarian militias and with the Coalition.

Once the example set by these areas is followed by regular Iraqis in all of the other boroughs, quarters, and districts--once the Iraqi people, who are accustomed to being under the thumb of a tyrant, decide once and for all to stand up for themselves--then this war can finally be won, and al Qaeda, the Sadrist hardliners, and the other violent sectarians can be driven out. But only if the American and Iraqi governments maintain the will to do so.

Both sides will have to live with the consequences if the wrong choice is made.

Like consigning a billion people to volatile despots, turning an entire region into, as insurance security expert Rohan Gunaratna says, a "terrorist Disneyland" where al Qaeda could grow unchallenged. Like condemning the West to ceaseless Islam-based cruelty.

Fight or surrender--your choice next November. The results will resonate here and there.

MORE:

Some lefties point to a May 11th WaPo report that "A majority of members of Iraq's parliament have signed a draft bill that would require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and freeze current troop levels." True enough--but the bill hasn't passed. And it wouldn't enshrine "peace-at-any-price":

"We haven't asked for the immediate withdrawal of multinational forces; we asked that we should build our security forces and make them qualified, and at that point there would be a withdrawal," said Bahaa al-Araji, a member of parliament allied with the anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose supporters drafted the bill. . .

Several legislators, including those loyal to Maliki, said they doubted that the effort would succeed at a time when Iraqi troops still rely heavily on U.S. firepower. The most prominent political parties in Iraq -- such as Maliki's Dawa party; the Shiite group known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq; the Iraqi Islamic Party, a leading Sunni group; and prominent Kurdish factions -- appear to oppose setting specific dates for withdrawal. . .

"I don't think it's a good idea," said Hachim al-Hassani, a secular Sunni from the Iraqi National List and a former speaker of parliament. "Unless we complete building our forces so we are capable of defending the country and bringing security to the country, then we are not ready for something like this. A premature withdrawal could lead to a civil war in Iraq."

Ali al-Adeeb, a lawmaker from the Dawa party and an aide to Maliki, said any timetable for American withdrawal should be accompanied by a timetable for training and equipping the Iraqi security forces.

Not too different from President Bush's policy.

MORE AND MORE:

Update here

(via LGF, The Corner)