Those invested in Iraq defeat see fortunes tumbling

McClatchy Newspapers joins the trend toward positive reporting on Iraq:

With violence subsiding throughout Baghdad, residents said that sectarianism is becoming less pervasive. They're starting to think of themselves as Iraqis, not as hostages to hyphenated, sectarian identities.

Residents said they visit relatives in neighborhoods of opposite sects. Taxi drivers said they can travel around blast walls to neighborhoods outside their own sect. Sunnis can get medical care at Shiite-run hospitals.

Of course some of my leftward friends will think "They're only saying that because we pay them to say it!" or something similarly absurd. But the reality is that the sectarian violence came from a minority and was almost certainly fed by an Al Qaeda strategy designed to inflame sectarian mistrust.

The obvious deserves repeating until it is recognized as the truth regarding Iraq: The Iraq War has turned a corner, and the best-case scenario in the wake of the war is within our grasp. The best-case scenario? A democratic and united Iraq friendly to the United States as Europe is friendly to the United States. No more Hussein shenanigans. No more secret WMD programs along with terrorist ties.

Instead, a distant neighbor with whom we will not always see eye to eye, but one with whom we will talk and cooperate.

The delicious turn in fortunes was long in coming, no doubt. The U.S. and its allies bear the embarrassment of the poor performance of intelligence operations, and that embarrassment will enduringly embolden enemies of the West.

The coalition forces were too slow in transforming the invasion/occupation force into a counterinsurgency force.

On the political front, our enemies can take some bitter comfort in the fact that they were this close to achieving politically what they could not achieve militarily. Yes, I'm assuming that the next administration will not somehow find a way to trade a good outcome for bad.

Credit is due to President Bush, the coalition armed forces and the Iraqi people. Persistence was a key for each.