Keep Despair Alive!

One of the articles of faith for those pining for America's defeat in Iraq is that the success of the tribal awakening movement in Anbar province cannot possibly, ever, be reproduced anywhere else in Iraq.
We should believe this, I suppose, because every leftist who starts blogging is instantly granted divine insight into the complexities of Iraqi politics, thousands of miles away. You know, the same people who have been telling us we have already lost in Iraq.
Well lo and behold, perhaps the Juan Cole wannabes don't know a damn thing about Iraq:The tribal movement begun in Anbar has spread throughout central Iraq, as thousands of Sunnis have either volunteered to join the Iraqi Security Forces or formed local defense groups under Iraqi government and coalition auspices. These "concerned citizens" groups springing up throughout central Iraq have not been previously observed on this scale in the country. They permit U.S. and Iraqi forces to hold territory they have cleared more effectively. The volunteers who make up these groups, recruited and deployed in their own neighborhoods, have incentives to protect their families and communities. They are not independent militias, however. They are partnered with Iraqi Security Forces and coalition forces.
The Baqubah Guardians, one such group, recently helped the Iraqi police in that city fight off al Qaeda insurgents until coalition helicopters arrived. The Taji Neighborhood Watch association searched hundreds of homes for weapons caches. Iraq has hitherto lacked a local policing initiative, relying instead on national and regional models. The concerned-citizen groups are filling this gap while the U.S. and the Iraqi governments work to expand and improve the Iraqi Security Forces that many of these volunteers hope to join.
I am sure the defeatocrats will explain this away with all the expert authority they have displayed thus far. They need to. They have bet the whole farm on defeat, and so they need to chant to themselves "keep despair alive!"