Success of the Surge

Perhaps some in the media simply enjoy the peripheral maneuvering more than the reality of the Iraq war. Perhaps my party continues to fall short in our attempts to communicate the real meaning of these Iraq votes.

The reality is that, after losing more soldiers during the first six months of the surge than during the entire first year of the war, we are no closer to success than before.

All the major Democratic presidential candidates support maintaining thousands of American trainers embedded with what the new report calls "dysfunctional and sectarian" forces.

Gen. Petraeus could have put together a cold, hard analysis on the good and the bad and then given his best judgment on how to proceed. Instead he chose to make a sales pitch for the president.

Does Bush not want to hear from Admiral Fallon? Doesn't he care what his top commander thinks? Or is it that he has already heard from Fallon and wants to make sure we don't hear from him?

It is time to add the president's vaunted "surge" to the dubious list of cinematic flops that were unable to come close to recouping the production cost, let alone turn a profit.

Why haven't any of our illustrious elected officials asked some rather obvious questions of the general? Here are just a few of my recommendations.

Nothing is going to happen because Democrats don't want the slightest shred of responsibility dangling from their designer-label lapels for Iraq policy in the next 12 months.

The surge is working! Really? The surge is working? That depends on what the meaning of "is" is. The surge won't "win," but it's working.

They will not point out that May was the deadliest month in 2007, with over 1900 civilian deaths. Nor will they admit that the drop in violence in Baghdad has more to do with population displacement than the surge.

The switch in emphasis is obvious. The president and what's left of his crew suffer grievously from what used to be called "the credibility gap." Salesmanship requires a new anchor man.

Without a vision for a better world, what did they do? They passed a resolution endorsing the dirty tricks initiative that will simply steal the 2008 presidential election for whomever the Republicans finally dredge up.

Most Americans now view the situation in Iraq as a "rearview" mirror issue -- meaning that the public believes it is time we to focus on the process of ending our involvement and getting out quickly.

Why are so many still supporting the failed effort in Iraq? Unsurprisingly, the mainstream media continues to treat Gen. David Petraeus as if he's Diogenes.