ALl this rap by dittoheads about how successful the surge was ignores a couple of important facts in play, even without talking about Afghanistan.

One is that the success of the surge is equally attributable to the constraints on insurgency imposed by Muqtya Al Sadr, without which we would have seen more blood and death than previously, instead of less.

Another is that the kind of superiorforce we have used to quell some of the uinsurgency is not the kind of military victory which actually resolves the well-springs of hatred and murderous intent on the part of the insurgents. I suspect to the contrary there will be a long-smoldering undercurrent of resentment against American influence as long as we are sitting in place there, and our so-called embassy looms over the city skyline fatrter than any of Saddams notorious pleasure palaces.