Mini-Surge Pummels Terrorists

by Ralph Peters

January 11, 2008 -- "AS you read these lines, our troops are in the midst of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a "mini-surge" to squeeze al Qaeda and its fast-dwindling band of allies out of their few remaining safe havens in Iraq.

Iraqi troops fight beside us against a common enemy. Vast swaths of the country enjoy a newborn peace. Commerce thrives again. At the provincial and local levels, the political progress has been remarkable.

As for Operation Phantom Phoenix, our commanders expected terrorist dead-enders to put up a fight. Instead, they ran, leaving behind only booby traps and disgust among the Iraqis they tormented far too long.

Well, they can run, but they can't hide. We dropped 20 tons of bombs on 40 terrorist targets yesterday, including safe houses, weapons caches and IED factories. In a late-afternoon exchange with The Post, Gen. David Petraeus characterized our current ops as "executing aggressively, pursuing tenaciously."

The headlines at home? "Nine American Soldiers Killed." No mention of progress or a fleeing enemy on the front pages. Just dead soldiers.

Determined to elect a Democrat president, the "mainstream" media simply won't accept our success. "Impartial" journalists find a dark cloud in every silver lining in Iraq. And the would-be candidates themselves continue to insist that we should abandon Iraq immediately - as if time had stood still for the past year - while hoping desperately for a catastrophe in Baghdad before November..."

The other day, Ali-Barack-Ababa took credit for the turnaround in Iraq and the media just nodded. His staff purloins old Richard Nixon campaign speeches, invites screaming idiots to campaign stops, and the media admits it is becoming swept up in the sizzle of it all. The sounds of sizzle, that is, because there's never been much beef to the liberal protestations that America is simply the worst country of all time, and, by the way, I can fix it if you vote for me.

But Julie or Mr. Mitty will defeat RodHam, Hussein will go back to missing rollcall votes at record pace while he does nothing just like before, the writers strike will end and the Yellowstream Media will find something else to sate the Oprah-minded millions.

Welcome to the 21st Century version of the land of the free and the home of the brave.