Monitoring the progress in Iraq these days is a bit like watching a disaster film play backwards: All the setbacks that threatened the whole pre-surge effort now seem to be righting themselves in reverse order.

We’ve seen the Awakening of Sunnis, the clampdown on al Qaeda in Iraq, the quelling of a “civil war” that wasn’t, the fight against Shiite militias, the reconciliation among sectarian blocs in the Iraqi government, and now the large-scale return to service of former Iraqi army members. Azzaman.com, the habitually negative Iraqi news source, is strikingly hopeful about this development what it indicates:

The government has allowed more than 5,000 members of the former army which the U.S. had disbanded to return to service.

The move comes as part of government efforts to deny rebels and the al-Qaeda group the means to use popular discontent as a means to raise recruits.

It is the largest single batch of former army members to be allowed to return to service and it signals the government is finally keen to appease Arab Sunnis.

The batch which includes many officers will certainly make the city notables among them tribal leaders happy.

A Defence Ministry spokesman said the members “volunteered to join the armed forces” and that the government was pleased with the move.

“The return of this large group of members and officers will boost the strength of the armed forces,” Lt. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari said.

The move also indicates that the government campaign to pacify Mosul, one of the most restive cities in the country, has been going well.

This kind of enthusiasm from Azzaman.com is noteworthy. Add it to the New York Times’ acknowledgement of Maliki’s success and Nancy Pelosi’s near admission of the same and what do you have? An emerging acceptance of good news from Iraq. If the backwards film reel effect holds, Hillary Clinton will soon start crowing about her unstinting support for the war in the first place.