Obama came and went, but not until today did Hope arrive in Iraq

And Riley, too.

Sometimes the news of progress in Iraq begins here at home:

BAGHDAD (AP) — The Baghdad Zoo on Friday welcomed a pair of rare Bengal tiger cubs that were donated by a North Carolina animal sanctuary despite protests by animal rights activists.

The tigers — a male and a female named Riley and Hope — frolicked with red and blue balls in a wading pool and playfully wrestled with each other in their cage, while U.S. soldiers and journalists snapped pictures and delighted Iraqis strolled by.

The animals, which were donated by the North Carolina-based Conservators' Center, arrived Monday after being flown to Baghdad from the United States in a $66,000 trip funded by the U.S. Embassy and transported to the zoo by the U.S. military.

Like many other Iraqi institutions, the Baghdad Zoo is struggling to emerge from years of devastation amid the violence that followed the U.S. invasion in March 2003 and officials showed off the tigers as proof of progress.

"This is a good day for the tigers, the zoo and the people of Iraq," zoo director Adel Salman Mousa said at a news conference at the park in central Baghdad. [...]

The Conservators' Center, a nonprofit sanctuary and conservation breeding facility in Mebane, North Carolina, said it decided to send the tigers to Baghdad to help boost restoration efforts and education work at the zoo. [...]

Mousa also said he hoped to add more in the future to provide important educational opportunities for Iraqi youths. An elephant and a giraffe were at the top of his wish list. [...]

The zoo, which was established in 1973 and owned by Saddam's feared son, Odai, has enjoyed a revival with the recent decline in violence, boasting an average of 2,000-3,000 visitors on weekdays and 10,000 on the weekend, according to Mousa. That was up from about 120 per day in 2006, when sectarian attacks were pushing the country to the brink of civil war.

Ahmed al-Dairy, 38, brought his wife and three young sons to the zoo for the third time this year, saying it was the only decent public place to enjoy a day out in the heavily barricaded capital.

"Last year it was a very bad situation in Baghdad, but now it is good," he said, standing in front of a cage holding two lions that was adjacent to the tigers. "Still there are bombings, but we must adapt to this."

"That’s right — six exclamation points"

While on vacation, we are keeping one eye on the news back home.

So, what could be more exciting than news from the local airport? Nothing, actually.

Credit: Joseph Rodriguez / News & Record

Army Spc. Lee Howerton faced a difficult choice as he strode up the airport hallway, suitcase in one hand and a black beret clutched tightly in the other.

Up ahead, the surprise welcoming committee of 31 people included his fiancee, mother, brother, even his fourth-grade teacher.

So after a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq, who gets the first hug?

Howerton’s family made the decision for him. A white-haired man seated in a combination wheelchair/walker held a homemade sign in his trembling hands: “Pop gets the first hug!!!!!!”

That’s right — six exclamation points.

Robert “Pop” Mitchell , an 81-year-old former Navy man, cried just a little as he embraced his 21-year-old grandson.

Lanette Ezell speeaks for us:

The family and friends gathered at Piedmont Triad International Airport were obviously proud of Howerton.

They were not alone.

Lanette Ezell and Joel Roach stood a short distance away. They were fellow passengers on the flight from Memphis to Greensboro, the last leg of the soldier’s cross-country journey from Fort Lewis.

“I don’t even know him,” Ezell said. “I just walked by and saw all the people here, and I got all choked up.”

Ezell dabbed at the tears in her eyes as she watched loved ones greet the tall, broad-shouldered stranger in the smart dress uniform.

“They should all get this kind of welcome home!!!!!!”

We admit having taken some editorial liberties with that last sentence, giving it the "Pop" Mitchell treatment.

That’s right — six exclamation points.

MORE: Thanks to Blog-ah for the link. Blog-ah focuses on Fort Lewis -- and should be read...repeatedly...

AND MORE, MORE: Thanks, too, to Mudville Gazette for the link in their Dawn Patrol section. The Dawn Patrol is a "daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics" at Mudville Gazette -- and is a daily must read.

Compelling and astounding...

Here again, I list two blogs I did for American Thinker...

The Iraq issue in 2008 (November, 2007):

To the extent that the war in Iraq will play a significant role in the 2008 elections, the numbers should be compelling and astounding to Democrats, in a direction they never could have imagined just a few months ago.

Democrats pushing a losing position (February 2008):

Speaker Pelosi, may I suggest you cut and run from your cut and run plan. The American people are not buying it.

I use these to set up a blog by Ed Morrissey at Hot Air today:

Public confidence in the Iraq war has risen to its highest level in almost two years. Fifty-three percent now believe that the US will ultimately achieve its goals in Iraq, fifteen points higher than just six months ago, according to Pew Research

Do read the entire Politico article on the Pew Research poll.

And at that post at Hot Air, Captain Ed says:

Congressional Democrats seem to have already figured this out. They recently approved the entire appropriation request for operations in Iraq without making hardly a peep about it. It’s no coincidence that it’s the first time in two years they haven’t tried to hold it hostage for a retreat.

Might we say that the Democrats have seen compelling and astounding numbers -- and have chosen to cut and run? Yes.

Would that I were a consultant who got paid for this stuff.

UPDATE: Just to put it in the post, the "compelling and astounding" title refers to the April 2007 statement by Harry Reid:

"We're going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war," Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) told reporters yesterday. "Senator Schumer has shown me numbers that are compelling and astounding."

Who knows who will pick up seats? The election is still a long ways off. We will simply satisfy ouselves for now that the Democrats no longer feel such confidence in the US losing in Iraq to be making such bold defeatist statements for their own electoral gains.

"...the Democrats could be in trouble come November"

I had shelved this. But what the hell, since Instapundit used this:

THE LATEST PEW POLL ON IRAQ has J.D. Johannes saying "I told you so!"

Here's the unshelved original...

Powerline’s take on that Pew Poll making the rounds:

This Pew poll on Americans' attitudes toward Iraq, via Hot Air, is interesting. In my opinion, the most significant finding is this one:





If Americans really expect us to win in Iraq by a 53% to 39% margin, the Democrats could be in trouble come November, since they are irrevocably committed to defeat.

Someone else has been trying to say that, too.

[VIMH: You said you would be different -- that you wanted to bring change -- that you would not succumb to the old way of doing things in the blogosphere. Yet here you are cynicially using one of the biggest blogs out there two posts in a row -- and NOW INSTAPUNDIT!!! I’m so disillusioned.]

Good point! But really it wasn’t about Powerline (or Instapundit) at all. All I really wanted was to point out a couple of American Thinker blogs I did premised on the idea that 2008 might be hard on the Democrats in November.

[VIMH: Oh, got it. So you weren’t cynically trying to climb on the backs of blogospheric giants. You were just cynically using them to pimp your own material.]

Exactly.