Arthur Chrenkoff has all the latest stories of progress in Iraq — many of them found here over the last week — that partisan journalists spin or, worse, simply ignore (via IP). Central Command offers two more items of pleasing news today: first, Taliban and al Qaeda agents continue to lose skirmish after skirmish when forced to fight armed men instead of defenseless civilians, a terrorist favorite. And Iraqis tending the Iranian border have received new equipment to better staunch general smuggling and Tehran's flow of terrorists, money and arms.

“This new equipment will allow the IBP to be more effective,” said Capt. Aaron Baugher, a Multinational Forces commander who works closely with the IBP. “They will be able to conduct more patrols at night, when smugglers are most active.”

Iraqi government officials have long recognized the border of Iraq as an entry point for terrorists, weapons and money coming into the country. The donation of this equipment is important to putting a stop to illegal activities. The Iraqi Border Patrol continues to work to secure the borders of Iraq and to prevent terrorists and smugglers from crossing into the country illegally.

Today's Wall Street Journal's lead editorial (print only) closely matches my own basic "stall" theory, wherein American forces will simply hold terrorist and authoritarian invaders at bay until Iraqis can settle the matter permanently by themselves, massaging the politics of occupation and naturally erasing Saddam's legacy of Iraqi timidity — insofar as the surest way to strengthen self-preservation is to force its sensation. As before, trial-by-fire wouldn't be my first choice but the directed terrorist attacks on Iraq may have necessitated such a strategy; and if it works, one can't argue with results.