I fell out of my chair: NYT acknowledges success of Iraqi surge in Basra

Unbelievable.

BASRA, Iraq — Three hundred miles south of Baghdad, the oil-saturated city of Basra has been transformed by its own surge, now seven weeks old.

In a rare success, forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki have largely quieted the city, to the initial surprise and growing delight of many inhabitants who only a month ago shuddered under deadly clashes between Iraqi troops and Shiite militias.

(The New York Times)

Well, at least the success is "rare." It's not like most of the country is doing better as with Basra. Well actually it is but let's stick with the positive in our assessment of the Times.

Okay, let's not. The story misses the bigger picture entirely. Though it mentions that Sadrists accuse Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of engineering the crackdown on the Mahdi Army as a "cynical" political move, the Times overlooks the manner in which the nation is uniting under Maliki. The crackdown on Shiite militias was a prerequisite to a unified Iraq, and this operation represents a huge step in that direction.

*****

Danes pare down forces in Iraq

COPENHAGEN: Denmark has withdrawn most of the 430 troops it has stationed in Iraq earlier than expected, a report said Wednesday quoting the Danish military.

The battalion, stationed in the southern city of Basra since 2003, under British command, was supposed to begin pulling out its soldiers on August 10.
(The News)

How significant is this move?

Not much, though the coalition effort in Basra is probably due to suffer a bit extra as the U.K. continues to implement a pull-down of its involvement in the Iraq coalition.

We heard quite a bit of criticism of our methods from the Brits--some of it apparently well-founded--but the British have had enduring difficulties in Basra, which should have been one of the easier regions to police aside from its proximity to neighboring Iran.

Regarding the nation as a whole, pacifying Baghdad is far more important. Basra may serve as tempting eye-candy for the Iranians, but Iraq can be stabilized successfully from the inside out. Basra is out.

The move may serve as a rallying point for peacenicks who think that the U.S. should take its cues from whatever European country is doing something the peacenicks like at the moment.