Expanding The Strategy In Iraq; Signs Of Success

The surge has worked well enough that the Iraqis are expanding its reach, according to the BBC:

Iraq says it is extending the current security drive beyond Baghdad to areas outside the capital.

Efforts to bring the security plan to the northern city of Mosul began on Tuesday, officials said, and Baghdad's outskirts would also be targeted.

Officials have expressed optimism about reduced sectarian violence in Baghdad, and have decided to ease the curfew.

Anyone who thinks the surge is a failure is a fool. In war, you do not continue failed plans or strategies. And the Iraqis were not happy when Petreaus was rotated out of Iraq. Now that he is back, and now that his strategy is in place and working well, they are happy. The MSM can spin this any direction they choose, but they cannot stop the truth coming out of Iraq.

And the truth is that the surge -- the counterinsurgency strategy executed by General Petreus -- is working well, and effectively. At the outset, al-Sadr fled Iraq, and the Mahdi army started laying down it's arms or bugged out. Militias are surrendering their arms. While the BBC report notes that car bombs are still a problem, their use is down. Casualties are down. The tactics utilized now by US/coalition/Iraqi forces are working better than expected, making it difficult, at best, for the media to spin this.

Marcie