Informed Canadians get their news from the Brits these days;
Today, we put him in the spotlight again by naming Gen Petraeus as The Sunday Telegraph's Person of the Year, a new annual accolade to recognise outstanding individual achievement.He has been the man behind the US troop surge over the past 10 months, the last-ditch effort to end Iraq's escalating civil war by putting an extra 28,000 American troops on the ground.
So far, it has achieved what many feared was impossible. Sectarian killings are down. Al-Qaeda is on the run. And the two million Iraqis who fled the country are slowly returning. Progress in Iraq is relative - 538 civilians died last month. But compared with the 3,000 peak of December last year, it offers at least a glimmer of hope.
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Happy New Years everyone. My hat is off to General Petraeus as the Person of the Year.
Posted by: Orlin at January 1, 2008 12:54 PMAnd from "the smartest woman in the world", Hillary Clinton, the apology and acknowledgement of Patraeus' and the troops' achievements??? ... The sounds of silence at Clinton HQ.
And the apology and acknowledgement of Patraeus' and the troops' achievements from Senator "This war is lost" Reid??? ... ditto.
And from Speaker Nancy Pelosi ... well we get the point. ... Even if the Democrats' leaders never do.
Posted by: Dave in Pa. at January 1, 2008 12:59 PMBut,but,but...on the Clinton News Network(CNN for the uninformed)this AM,they said that the "insurgents" where at their highest level,and that 2007 was the bloodiest year yet in Iraq for the Americans. I am so confuzzed...NOT.
Posted by: Justthinkin at January 1, 2008 1:00 PMFunny how a British newspaper can see the truth, but an American magazine cannot!
Posted by: Minnesota at January 1, 2008 1:41 PM"Informed Canadians get their news from the Brits these days"
Of necessity, given the quality of our domestic newspapers.
Coincidentally, today is the 222nd birthday of The Universal Daily Register, a.k.a. The Times, first published Saturday, 1 January 1785, priced two-pence halfpenny. In the third column, under the headline To The Public:
To bring out a New Paper at the present day, when so many others are already established and confirmed in the public opinion, is certainly an ambitious undertaking; and no one can be more fully aware of the difficulties than I am; I, nevertheless, entertain very sanguine hopes, that the nature of the plan on which this paper will be conducted, will ensure it a moderate share at least of public favour...
All those years of investing in responsible reporting and truly in-depth investigative journalism have kept The Times alive. Maybe that's the difference from our Canadian newspapers, and a fortiori the CBC.
Posted by: Charles MacDonald at January 1, 2008 3:54 PMSorry, that should read "The Daily Universal Register."
Posted by: Charles MacDonald at January 1, 2008 3:56 PMAnd I got it from NRO's daily web briefing, which I should have mentioned.
Posted by: Joan Tintor at January 1, 2008 5:30 PMI like BBC's international short wave news...now relayed from Holland.
Posted by: WL Mackenzie Redux at January 1, 2008 8:56 PM"According to the health, defence and interior ministries, 16,232 civilians, 432 soldiers and about 1,300 policeman died in 2007. The year before, the ministries said that 12,371 civilians, 603 soldiers and 1,224 policeman were killed."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080101.wiraq0101/BNStory/International/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080101.wiraq0101
But don't let the facts get in the way of some good propaganda.
Posted by: lberia at January 2, 2008 11:33 AM"... the last-ditch effort to end Iraq's escalating civil war..."
Leftist footsoldier's rantings aside,how can anyone seriously think we have the ability to stop the sectarian murdering and killing of muslims by muslims that has been going on for centuries?
It would seem to me that the pressence of westerners on Middle Eeastern soil,no matter how well intentioned,will simply guarrantee continued hatred,violence and martyrdom by so many easily manipulated and controlled by their faith.
Posted by: teddy at January 2, 2008 2:41 PM