A new beginning for U.S.-Iraq relations

So, what does all of this mean for Iraq? Well, we know what it doesn’t mean. “This war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything.” Those were the words of the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, in April 2007. In March of that same year, Secretary Gates was cautiously optimistic when asked about the surge on CBS’s Face The Nation: “So far so good – it’s very early.” Fast forward to last Sunday when Secretary Gates seemed heartened by the resolve of the Iraqi people: “We couldn’t have written a script from the vantage point of March 2007 to be where we are today with the low level of violence and significant turnout for election.”

Spot on, Mr. Secretary and now there’s even praise for the former president. Well-known columnist Tom Friedman of The New York Times recently wrote, “Former President George W. Bush’s gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right.”

As John Feehery, of The Feehery Theory, penned in his column on Monday, “It used to be fashionable to joke about President Bush and question not only his smarts but also his sanity, especially when it came to Iraq. It may be fashionable in the future to acknowledge that the former President just might have been right in his vision of a free, democratic and prosperous Iraq.” That’s where we can add in that “healthy dose of ‘Thank you, George Bush,’” to use the recent words of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Scott Sadler is an experienced communicator with an in-depth expertise with crisis communications who has served in senior level positions in the Federal government, Capitol Hill, and in a military theater of operation.