Al Qaeda in Iraq is Defeated

Michael Yon reports the good news from Iraq

“Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated,” according to Sheik Omar Jabouri, spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party and a member of the widespread and influential Jabouri Tribe. Speaking through an interpreter at a 31 October meeting at the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in downtown Baghdad, Sheik Omar said that al Qaeda had been “defeated mentally, and therefore is defeated physically,” referring to how clear it has become that the terrorist group’s tactics have backfired. Operatives who could once disappear back into the crowd after committing an increasingly atrocious attack no longer find safe haven among the Iraqis who live in the southern part of Baghdad. They are being hunted down and killed. Or, if they are lucky, captured by Americans.

That doesn't mean they aren't still capable of staging a dramatic and deadly attack, but the level of violence in Iraq has dropped something like 70% and the ability of Al Qaeda to dramatically effect events in Iraq has substantially declined. The surge is working and the Dems worst nightmare could be coming to pass - victory in Iraq.