This thing isn't going away...

When I started this blog I had no intention of spending so much time commenting on the Islamic jihad against the west commonly called the war on terror. Yet I find it difficult to avoid the conclusion that this thing isn't going away easily or soon and in all likelihood is going to get worse. And no matter how some would like to define this war (Iraq is a diversion, it's only an intelligence problem, etc.) it has been and is being defined by the enemy. The radical jihadists of al Qaeda have been waging war against the U.S. (and others) for years, both in word and in deed. As a country we came to that sobering realization on September 11, 2001. Since then, with the war in Iraq, we have come to the point where many even question whether there really is a war on terror. I am not going to wade into that argument right now. Suffice to say, I believe the evidence is overwhelming for those willing to see it. I believe the still rising and real threat by radical Islam against the west is 'the' singular issue of today. And as of now, we are far from a consensus as to how to respond to that threat.

Many in Congress want to precipitously pull out of the war in Iraq. Major media news reporting on events there is woefully inadequate, leaving the impression that nothing happens there except car bombings, IED bombings, and general mayhem. Conventional wisdom has it that Iraq is some kind of "civil war," or sectarian battleground that the U.S. military has no business in. This blog has provided numerous links to sources that show otherwise. And as this debate again boils up in Congress, I find myself distressed at the dearth of reporting about what is at stake and what progress is occurring in Iraq. I find myself distressed at the fecklessness of those opposing this war effort.

In today's Wall Street Journal, Kimberly Kagan (an affiliate of Harvard's John M. Olin Institute of Strategic Studies and executive director of the Institute for the Study of War in Washington) does her part to divide the perception of failure from the actual very real progress being accomplish militarily in Iraq. The article is Moving Forward In Iraq... The "surge" is working. Will Washington allow the current progress to continue? There is a war being waged against this country by radical Islamics (AQ, Iran). Here is a recent news item from the AP regarding al Qaeda in Iraq: Al-Qaeda’s deputy leader sought to bolster the terror network’s main arm in Iraq in a new video released Thursday, calling on Muslims to rally behind it at a time when the group is on the defensive, faced with U.S. offensives and splits with other insurgent groups.

The main battle ground is in Iraq according to the very words of that enemy... from other news reports:

"Ayman Al-Zawahiri defended the Islamic State of Iraq — the insurgent umbrella group headed by Al Qaeda — against critics among Islamic militant groups, saying it was a vanguard for fighting off the U.S. military and eventually establishing a “caliphate” of Islamic rule across the region."

"Al-Zawahiri, the top deputy of Usama bin Laden, called on Muslims to follow a two-pronged strategy: work at home to topple “corrupt” Arab regimes and join Al Qaeda’s “jihad,” or holy war, in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia to fight and train “to prepare for the next jihad."

"Al Qaeda’s declaration of the Islamic State of Iraq last year was a dramatic move aimed at staking out its leadership of Iraq’s insurgency. Allying itself with several smaller Iraqi Sunni insurgent groups, it presented the Islamic State as an alternative government within Iraq, claiming to hold territory."

Check out the excellent reporting being done by Michael Yon to get further details on what the situation is on the ground in Iraq.

This thing isn't going away by itself.