Surge may be working, says Dem analysts

[Tex]

I'm surprised to not see this discussed anywhere on CG, given how supportive this board is of the Iraq war effort.

"Viewed from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily 'victory' but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with."

They go on:

"... the first thing you notice when you land in Baghdad is the morale of our troops ... morale is high"
"... civilian fatality rates are down roughly a third since the surge began ..."
"... A local mayor told us his greatest fear was an overly rapid American departure from Iraq.... "
"... things look much better than before ..."
"... In war, sometimes it’s important to pick the right adversary, and in Iraq we seem to have done so...."
"... Another surprise was how well the coalition’s new Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Teams are working...."

All is not rosy, of course. They criticize the lack of progress in the central government, and they emphasize that all is not yet won (though down, civilian casualties are still too high).

But we are winning. Don't ask Harry Reid that, though.

By the way, did I mention these guys are Democrats and critics of the war?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/op...=1&oref=slogin