Where Credit is Due

There has been a lot written about the recent parliamentary elections in Iraq and what it means for the Middle East and the future of the country. Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe has a piece where he gives credit where it is due- to George W. Bush.

You can debate, with good reason, the rationale for entering the war. Apart from the origins of the war the key is that, at a critical time, Bush selected the course of action that has produced a fairly stable country. None of the opposing plans to pull out or "redeploy" would have led to a more secure Iraq.

Key figures in the Obama administration, Obama and Biden among them, promoted the wrong ideas for Iraq. If they continue to claim that the economy they entered office with is the fault of the previous administration, they cannot take credit for Iraq's successes, except insofar as they have continued those beneficial policies for the last 13 months.