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You quoted an editorial (26Jan) gloating that ‘Wider insurgency is being..defeated. All that’s left is AlQuaeda.” This writer was happy that Baathists are fleeing the country.
Another way to put this fact “SECULAR Saddamit insurgents (who, we hoped, would sign a separate peace with US, have fled, leaving in control of Anbar, only the implacable AQ fanatics.” Reason to celebrate?
Such implacable optimism reminds me of MarkTwain’s cheerfully reconstructed memory of a fight he was in: “I thrust my nose firmly between his teeth and threw him to the ground on top of me !”

Dan Lyons
Fort Collins

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