I hope and believe Iraq will be a success. But, that said, success is probably not the right word. There will still be thousands and thousands of Iraqis who've been tortured, killed and terrorized since we went there. There will still be no counterbalance to Iran (as Ted Koppel properly notes) and there will still be intense resentment of America for going there.  If they become a stable country, they will be a powerful nation and ally against terror.  But always, always scarred.

I understand that minister's wife who shot him dead (in the back) and then drove to see relatives in Alabama now wants her children back.  Maybe we should toss in a few foster kids while we're at it.  That is, if we're complete idiots.

That NFL Tight End who injured his spine and is likely paralyzed makes me wonder how much its worth to be entertained on Sunday afternoons by these mammoth jousters.  I love the Colts, but I hope my kids don't ever play for them.

It finally rained in Knoxville.  I forgot what that was like.  Fortunately so did the mosquitos who couldn't find a place to lay eggs.

The Dow is up 200 points one day and down 200 the next.  Why is it the other guy who always gets in before it goes up and gets out before it goes down.

I just learned that the book of Acts is chiastic prose.  I continue to be amazed at what I find in the bible.

My wife lost her vision recently and we were very scared.  But it's coming back and that's an answer to prayers.  Still, others pray with a different result.  All I know is that I appreciate the good that happens.

Why does Chili sound good on rainy days?

sharp

It seems like we've got quite a stew of issues in Iraq. And, depending on the point someone wants to make, folks seem to move seamlessly between issues. But I think they're very separate. And it matters a great deal.

First is political progress in Iraq.  Even this one is a mixture of things.  As far as a national government is concerned they've been weak.  But a  lot of their weakness, according to Michael Yon's submissions as an imbed, have more to do with local political problems and the inability to deliver goods and services without them falling direclty into insurgent hands.  The local situation is improving by all accounts.  Could this mean that the national situation is close behind?

Second is the war against Al Qaeda.  This one is clearly going very well with local tribes turning against Al Qaeda and those who've worked with them and ridding their society of this evil.  The foundation of Sunni terrorism has been shattered and replaced with the foundation of a civil society.  And in the meantime Al Qaeda has suffered massive losses and the gutting of their international prestige.  That, along with recent failures in England and Germany. 

Third is the reconciliation of Sunni and Shiite into a somewhat cohesive group.  This is different from a national government in the same way that the NYTimes OpEd pages are different from the Omaha Times (if that exists - you get the point).  As a national government and within Baghdad the lines may be clearly drawn, but this is apparently not the case at all in other areas of Iraq where Sunni and Shia live and work together without conflict.  Just as one who heard exit poll interviews would be sure that the nation was rallying behind Kerry and he would win in a landslide, so the major stories that only emanate from Baghdad leave potentially larger truths hidden and can lead to completely wrong conclusions.

It takes discipline and sincerity to discuss these issues separately as many on both sides see opportunity in linking them.  Opponents of the war link political progress at the national level to everything else because it fits the argument they want.  Proponents of the surge link success in fighting Al Qaeda with total success in Iraq because that fits their argument (and sometimes mine). 

In the end, we will only be realistic if we treat them with honest distinction, not that I'm the expert here.  But I can see the lines being blurred for reasons quite close to deceit.  Too much is at stake to do that.

sharp

Bin Laden has encouraged America to convert to Islam.  Perhaps he's a little deluded. 

Maybe where he's from folks tend to switch religions based upon the really nice people who come into their homes and cook their children in their ovens (as Al Qaeda has done in Iraq).

Maybe where's he's from it makes sense to follow the man who is engorged with searing hatred of every other race and even those who are only degrees from his own.

Maybe where he's from it makes sense to woship those who terrorize and spread mass suffering.

Maybe he thinks Americans don't know the Son of God and are quick to trade the truth for a lie.

Maybe he thinks we'd all like to live in caves and threaten innocent people for the rest of our lives.

Or maybe he just doesn't think.

sharp

With the President and much of his cabinet along with the Iraqi government (Shiites to be sure) standing on what had been the home base of terror in Iraq, the message is clear.  This war is being won and the Iraqi government is coming to the Sunni province with aid, food, reconstruction and a heavy seriousness about providing a stable place for Iraqis to live and worship.

Now that Sunni tribes are turning against Al Qaeda and helping us find and arrest or kill them, this war has taken an unexpectedly dramatic turn for the better.  Which may be partly due to just how terribly wrong it had been going.  Still, the major criticism of the Bush administration about Iraq had been that it was an enormously costly distraction in the war on terror.

From what I'm hearing daily about Iraq, it's the perfect scenario to destroy not only the terror, bases and war-making materials of Al Qaeda, but it's the perfect place to gut the reputation of that organization of terror and hate across the Islamic world.

The next crucial step will be for moderate Arabs to retake Islam and make it something more than an opportunity for each man to play God by slaughtering his neighbor's children based upon his own interpretation of right and wrong.  And, for the record, this episode in history also brings the truth of Christ's words to a crescendo when He described the Christian walk as self-sacrificial and non-judgmental.  His "fulfilling of the law" took us from the bloody battlefields of self-righteousness to a recognition that only God can judge and we are to "do to others as we would have them do to us".

Come to think of it, moderate Christians may have a responsibility to retake their own religion, too.

sharp

A year ago Americans went to the polls and said that the Republicans had blown it.  And they had.

President Bush had made a series of mistakes in the first two years of his second term and Congressional Republicans had done nothing to merit another two years in power and scandals were the final straw.

With this kind of change comes opportunity.  The Democrats have had the chance, albeit limited due to a Republican in the White House, to lead differently.  To be moral (which the Republicans had not); to address needs with meaningful legislation (mixed bag for Republicans) and to be less political and more serious and straightforward (that's certainly asking a lot of any politician).

By most accounts (no real moral problems on that side of the aisle), Democrats have fared poorly.  On the other hand, the scandals, both moral and financial, that emerged on the Republican side continue to do so.  The purging clearly isn't over.  While this may be the best thing that ever happened to the Republican Party and America, it's certainly ugly to watch. 

So where does that leave the leadership of the country?  Hillary looks serious (my crticisms aside) and Obama is a fresh face and point of view (more definition would be helpful).  On the Republican side Fred Thompson will announce on September 6th and immediately be a favorite.  The others on both sides could save a lot of energy and money by packing it up - though I thought that about John Kerry in the 2004 primary process and he came within a whisker of the White House.

But the Congress, though likely to stay in Democratic hands, is suffering from horrible ratings.  Could this be the beginning of the end of the two-party system?  It's times like these that new things emerge, because the country is ready for it.

It will be interesting to watch.

sharp