Submitted by Nolan Nelson, Jul 16, 2007 20:51

Senator Gordon Smith invented "illusion of Jeffersonian democracy" to enrapture Oregon liberals who will still consider him lawful prey as they did Packwood. The Administration and Congress contributed to his delinquency by enabling premature, un-prioritized benchmark assessment.

Smith and others shackle General Petraeus leading Coalition and Iraqi forces implementing classic counterinsurgency tactics. Tactics consistently victorious, when not sabotaged by media/political theater as just witnessed.

Satisfactory progress brought increased security and reduced sectarian violence to el-Anbar province and Baghdad by providing U.S. and Iraqi forces for joint, small, ubiquitous unit presence. Increased security concurrently allows joint civilian teams to distribute benefits available through effective Iraqi budget allocations to ministries and provinces.

After less than one month no political progress should occur. Yet constitutional review, semi-autonomous region laws, minority party protections and capital funds allocation happened. Petraeus, who co-authored the Army's counterinsurgency manual, says, "The objective is to improve security for the people of Iraq in order to give Iraqi leaders the time and space they need to come to grips with tough political issues". Reliable security first reinforces influence from moderate leaders and constituencies. Then they can facilitate consensus on de-Ba'athification, energy sharing, provincial laws/elections, and amnesty.

Bin Laden and Zawahiri envision devastating, regional al-Qaeda defeat from government radically different from ours, but revolutionary in the Arab world. Successful governance means moderate constituencies prizing Arab priorities of family, tribe, and ethnicity provide leadership in choosing a national government relegating to criminality constituencies using murderous bestiality for political persuasion.

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