The Surge is Working (but Don't Tell the Dems - You'll Just Upset Them)

Captain Ed points us to an article in the Washington Post in which Robert Kagan wonders if the press has both considered the possibility that the surge is working, and would tell us if it was:

Leading journalists have been reporting for some time that the war was hopeless, a fiasco that could not be salvaged by more troops and a new counterinsurgency strategy. The conventional wisdom in December held that sending more troops was politically impossible after the antiwar tenor of the midterm elections. It was practically impossible because the extra troops didn't exist. Even if the troops did exist, they could not make a difference.

Four months later, the once insurmountable political opposition has been surmounted. The nonexistent troops are flowing into Iraq. And though it is still early and horrible acts of violence continue, there is substantial evidence that the new counterinsurgency strategy, backed by the infusion of new forces, is having a significant effect. ...

Apparently some American journalists see the difference. NBC's Brian Williams recently reported a dramatic change in Ramadi since his previous visit. The city was safer; the airport more secure. The new American strategy of "getting out, decentralizing, going into the neighborhoods, grabbing a toehold, telling the enemy we're here, start talking to the locals -- that is having an obvious and palpable effect." U.S. soldiers forged agreements with local religious leaders and pushed al-Qaeda back -- a trend other observers have noted in some Sunni-dominated areas. The result, Williams said, is that "the war has changed."

It is no coincidence that as the mood and the reality have shifted, political currents have shifted as well. A national agreement on sharing oil revenue appears on its way to approval. The Interior Ministry has been purged of corrupt officials and of many suspected of torture and brutality. And cracks are appearing in the Shiite governing coalition -- a good sign, given that the rock-solid unity was both the product and cause of growing sectarian violence.

Although this particular piece is aimed at the press for their unremitting negativism toward Iraq and the Bush Administration, it could just as easily be aimed at the Dems and their defeatocrat attitudes. As Mitch McConnell reminded us the other day, the Dems are not up to their 17th different anti-war resolution in the Senate with not a success to their credit. They've set a course for defeat and will not allow victory to get in the way.

In the House they've decided that all troops must be out of Iraq by August of 2008, just in time so Iraq won't be a factor in the election. Of course, this approach ignores the possibility that an early withdrawal, before the country is ready to manage itself, would result in death, destruction and chaos at an unprecendented level, which would really be getting going good about November as Americans go to the polls. That plan may pass the House, but it will go no further.

The Dems and the press are so invested in defeat that the concept of victory is beyond their ability to comprehend. Should General Petraeus' plan actually work, I would expect that every shrink in the country would be booked beyond capacity with liberals trying to adjust to a new reality.