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Long Time Comin'

So the title of this blog serves more than one purpose. On one front, I can finally get back to blogging on a regular basis (for now anyway), as I was subject to the classic "you can't quit, you're fired" situation at work earlier this week. I get the feeling HH Gregg will get along without me. Haha secondly, and I can say without hyperbole a million times more serious, I can finally put together a piece about the peace taking hold in Iraq.



The reason I've felt I should hold off on this story (substantial progress in the amount of deaths decreased as well as sectarian violence as a whole has been waning for almost 3 months now) is due in part to the fact that I wanted to make sure the turning tide looked more like a permanent trend as opposed to fortuitous moment, and also as a moment both sides of the political spectrum can enjoy. If you out there in cyberspace absolutely hate GW and the Iraq War, great, go tell your side of the story. The point is, no matter what perspective you chose to look at the war from, the dramatic decline in violence has been a God-send. To the Humanitarians-Iraqis are moving back from Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon in droves. To the religiously concerned, sectarian violence is down on all sides, Pope Benedict just appointed a Cardinal to the Baghdad diocese and his Church is now attended by Shiites and Sunnis as a sign of solidarity among the Iraqis. For the die hard military men and women, Al Qaeda is breathing its last dying breath, has no sanctuary anywhere in Iraq, and Muqtada al Sadr is ordering his men to stand down, lest they become targets of the "awakenings" taking place all over Iraq, and Iranian agents have been caught in a series of "sting" operations set up by our guys, and subsequently have cut the crap. To the die hard peace activists, less people on all side are dying, and while any death is deplorable, less is definitely more in this case, and the quicker these acts of violence and killing subside, the quicker we can all come home.

(As always, here are some citations:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2007-11-12-ied_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSCOL24813120071022?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21817547/

http://www.newsweek.com/id/70990/page/1

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ca653412-97b4-11dc-9e08-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22204742/)

Now, I don't need to summarize that, you all are bright human beings. It would be quite easy for me to sit here and give the "I told you so lecture" to all the anti-war folk out there. But thats considering the magnitude this is no time to inject partisan babble. Absolutely not. As I just pointed out, this is a celebration all can and should enjoy, because if this trend continues, we all win. And with Christmas 2 weeks away, what better time to come together and commemorate this occasion. So I ask all of you out there, no matter what side you're on, toast to this. Honor it. Salute it. Make Merry. Paint the town red. Do whatever you want. But for the sake of mere goodwill acknowledge that whats taking hold is Peace, which means less sorrow, less pain, and a little more hope, a hope we can all be happy about.

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