FoxNews Panelists Discuss Maliki's Basra Victory

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From 'FoxNews -- Special Report w/ Brit Hume':
April 22, 2008


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE USA: There has been much discussion about the events in Basra, and much of it misses the point. This was an Iraqi initiative for their security forces loyal to the government to take back a city that had been overrun by extremists and thugs. And this is exactly the kind of initiative we seek from Iraq's leaders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUME: That is what the administration has been saying in recent weeks about a military adventure ordered by Nouri al-Maliki in Iraq that appeared not to have gone so well. But what everyone was saying, was that it was not so important how well it went but that they mounted it at all. Now the facts from the ground seem to have changed from what we were hearing from the mainstream media... and from this channel as well, just a few weeks ago. Things look different. Things apparently look better -- Fred?

BARNES: It is the difference between winning and losing. They have now this supposedly completely failed Iraqi army effort, has now been triumphant and captured the entire city of Basra, which is obviously so important because it is the chief seaport, and where so much commerce comes through into Iraq. And so the press, "The New York Times", "BBC", "TIME" magazine, and everybody else -- I guess FOX included -- was wrong about this.

The prime minister, who gets minimum high regard from the media, and I think from a lot of Americans, and even people in the Bush administration as well, said 'Well, wait a minute, we're continuing fighting. It's not over yet.' And it wasn't over. He turned out to be right. This is a big victory for Prime Minister Maliki, no question about that. And look at what he has now -- Basra, most of Baghdad, and are taking on the Shia militia there.

If Muqtada al-Sadr, who is behind some of these militias, is such a strong and effective leader, how come he is still in Iran? He hasn't come back. His movement is losing, and Maliki is winning and bringing with him a lot of political reconciliation, because the Sunnis and the Kurds and Shia are all together on this effort to wipe out the militias.

EASTON: I think there is a danger, and this is a long, complex, messy war. And there is a danger in any of these isolated events to say, 'This was a great victory. This was mission accomplished.' Let's remember that.

HUME: I know, but is there a greater danger than in saying what was said three weeks ago?

EASTON: Or Nancy Pelosi saying, 'Let's not overestimate. This was a disaster' -- or, 'Let's not underestimate this; that this was a disaster.' I think you have to look, like anything in Iraq, you have to look at it like the stock market. You have to look at trends over time. And trends over time are getting better in Iraq.

But you still have Sadr issuing these warnings to the Maliki government. There is still -- yes, things are looking good now -- but you've got to look at it long term and not just make a conclusive conclusion about any given battle site at any given moment.

KRISTOL: That's true, but if you had said two months ago, talk to people who are really knowledgeable on the ground, and said the 14th Iraqi army will go to Basra and rout the Sadrists and control the entire city, apparently, with Sadr standing down, the Sadrists now splintering a little bit -- this is a very big deal.

Baghdad is tough. Some of my friends are concerned that with our drawdown -- they wish we hadn't come down from 20 to 15 divisions, because this is really the time that with a little more American force we might have been able to close the deal more quickly. But the people I talked to who are following this are pretty optimistic. They think that the Maliki government forces are making progress now in Sadr City itself against the Sadrists.

And the most important thing is that the Shiite extremists are beginning to splinter, just as the Sunnis did in late 2006, early 2007. You're getting a lot of Shias saying we don't want to be controlled by Iran. We don't want these thugs controlling our life. If the government can capitalize on this, this can be a big moment, almost as big as the Anbar Awakening was about a year-and-a-half ago.

WILLIAMS: I am all for it. I just hope we win. But I know that we're giving lots of support to Maliki, and so the suggestion that Maliki has proven to be this terrific leader, I'm not sold. Now, he's been at this conference with Secretary Rice saying that the country has moved beyond the point of internal divisions and factions. I see no evidence of this. I think, in fact, the military force has been sufficiently successful in Basra to this point with a tremendous amount of American support. I think there has been American support...

BARNES: No -- extremely little American support. Some air support, and that's about it.

WILLIAMS: Air support, and don't forget that all along Americans have been offering intelligence and guidance and helping to rout out problems inside, in what had been a weak military reconstituted to be Iraqi's force. And so you have this going forward. There is some good news there, but I don't see that Maliki is any Abe Lincoln, not quite.

BARNES: Wait a minute, Juan. You're knocking down a straw man. Nobody said he was Abe Lincoln. All we said is that he sent the Iraqi army into Basra and succeeded.