Something I found lacking in the President’s speech last evening was a sustained and pointed rebuke to the ascendent MSM narrative of Operation Iraqi Freedom—a narrative that is augmented by incessant and hyperbolic Gitmo criticisms, the partisan ravings of Ted Kennedy, et al, and by a contemporary media ethos that priviliges the sensational at the expense of the balanced—and one that is directly responsible for whatever war anxieties have been driving down recent poll numbers on support of the war.  Fortunately, Donald Rumsfeld directly and forcefully confronted that master narrative during his Monday press briefing; unfortunately, it’s likely that few but a tiny handful of news junkies even saw the damn thing—a shame, because it serves as a perfect addendum to the President’s Iraq speech:

One week from today Americans will celebrate the 229th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence that launched our war of liberation.  It’s easy to forget that those early patriots faced monumental difficulties as they sought to overcome an array of failures and obstacles.  But they had the vision and the courage to persevere and establish the first enduring democracy the world had then known.

The people of Iraq today are in the earliest days of their struggle to build a multiethnic democracy.  Ultimately, it will be up to the Iraqi people—not the United States, not the coalition—to rebuild and secure their country.  The mission of our coalition is to create an environment, where the Iraqis themselves can contain and ultimately defeat their insurgency. 

Despite their long-neglected infrastructure and their lack of experience with democracy, the Iraqi people have demonstrated both the will and the capacity to succeed.  They have oil, water, intelligent people, well-educated people, and a heritage of a great civilization that can be put to work to build a moderate Iraq version of a self- governing society. 

The suggestion of those who say we are losing, or that we’re in a quagmire, seems to be that, as long as there’s violence in Iraq, that the conclusion must be that insurgents are winning.  Not so. 

Consider the changes of the past year.  A democratically elected government is in place, and more than 8 million Iraqis went to the polls, defying intimidation at home and skepticism here in the United States, in their region and abroad.  The Sunni minority now has belatedly recognize that boycotting their election was a mistake.  And they are rejoining the political process.

Insurgents remain capable of savage attacks, to be sure.  But they can no longer take advantage of sanctuaries like Fallujah to train, plan and hold hostages. 

Iraq’s security forces have grown steadily in size and capability.  They have equipment and experience they previously lacked, and are earning the confidence and support of the Iraqi people. 

Conversely, the violent extremists have had little to show for their efforts, except for a growing body count of mostly Iraqi civilians, and a skillful knack for grabbing headlines—free publicity worth millions to their violent cause.  But despite their public affairs skills, they are not a nationalist movement, they don’t have a vision, and they will eventually lose.

In his meeting with President Bush on Friday, Iraq’s new prime minister thanked the American people for their patience and for their resolve.  The Iraqi leaders recognize that there’s more work to be done and that the work is theirs to do.  Their tasks include: ensuring that there are no delays in drafting or voting on the new Iraqi constitution, strengthening the Iraqi ministries to improve their ability to provide needed services and to reduce coalition involvement, aggressively encouraging their neighbors to close their neighbors to terrorists, persuading Iraqi’s Sunnis to reject the insurgency and embrace the political process, and to work closely with their coalition allies to turn responsibility for more cities and provinces over to Iraqi security forces.

Success for the coalition should not be defined as domestic tranquility in Iraq.  Other democracies have had to contend with terrorism and insurgencies for a number of years, but they’ve been able to function and eventually succeed.  As in difficult conflicts of the past, lasting progress and achievements do not come from reacting to headlines or chasing mercurial opinion polls.  Setbacks are inevitable, and important victories are seldom won without risk, sacrifice and patience.

Recently, the mood and commitment of the American people towards the efforts in Iraq have been the subject of discussion.  Our American system places all of our faith and all of our hope in the people of our country, and the confidence that, given sufficient information, over time that they’ll find their way to the right decisions.  I believe they will do so on Iraq.  And I also believe that one day, those that have worked so hard and sacrificed so much—Americans, our coalition partners, and Iraqis alike—will look back with pride at what will then be seen as an historic accomplishment.

Of course, none of this is likely to sway the professional naysayers (already this morning, Barbara Boxer, appearing on FOX with Martha McCallum, has reiterated the outright failure of the war, as have Democratic Party spokesmen Howard Dean and Harry Reid).  But the President’s remarks—taken together with Rumsfeld’s reminders about the nature of dominant narratives—should go a long way toward reassuring the American people that the War is both necessary and, viewed from an objective perspective, has been remarkably successful.

It is up to this White House now to make sure the complete story gets repeated and publicized.