Despite yesterday’s tragic crash of a helicopter in Iraq that killed 9 soldiers and Howard Dean’s claims, the capture of Saddam Hussen made Americans safer. Fewer soldiers were killed by terrorists in Iraq in the month after Saddam’s arrest than were killed in the month before and at a slower rate than anytime since major combat ended. (This doesn’t include soldiers who died in accidents, only from combat.) The expert in the linked story also says that what’s happening now is not a constant low-level fighting, but brief surges, as if the enemy now has to build up strength before launching a big attack, then wait again, and attack later.
The terrorists won’t all be conquered in a day or a month, and I think Iraq in a year will be like Afghanistan is now: there will still be danger from isolated terrorist cells, but it will be a lot more pacified. And as the Iraqi people return to normal lives, they will take over much of the security work themselves and put themselves on the frontline of bringing peace to their country.
