He made news out of nothing.

If we diaried about how mad or sad we are that the surge is working, then that would be news.

He has to be a Republican because he thinks in black and white. We are either to write diaries that agree the surge is working and rejoice, or write diaries that agree the surge is working and be... angry?

I follow Iraq closely every day. I have a memory and I like to think I am not a complete idiot.

I could point out all the Polyanna reports since day 1 that turned out to be false, and I could point out all the advanced warnings seemingly smart people were making that were ignored. (Pretend I didn't point them out) because looking past that, there is still the simple fact that Iraq has never behaved in ways that were expected or desired.

Those few dead-enders poured sugar in our gas tanks at every turn. We should have expected it, but even so, Iraq descended into violence on a scale that shocked even the war pigs.

We are responsible for unleashing forces that have decimated that country.

Mr. Andersen has to pardon the fuck out of me if I refrain from jumping up and down and calling anything a success.

The welcome lull in violence from the levels it saw is indeed good news, much the same as the violence in Poland dropped of greatly after enough people were killed or displaced. Yes, it's great news. If Andersen were a doctor, he could deliver the news to a patient that was dying of cancer that he was happy to report the patient no longer had a weight problem.

To think that it is our 30,000 troops that are responsible for the reduced violence discounts the lives of fully 1/3rd of the Iraq citizens who have either died, been maimed, or displaced.

You know what? Fine; we are a sensitive nation who's ego needs constant reassurance so let's call it the Surge that fixed things there. We already have so much stupidity in the pot now, we may as well go all in.

Remember this, though; there still has been no political reconciliation and Iraq is still completely and utterly without a stable government. They are fully dependent on us and we have not moved that one inch, despite what Bush or McCain might say.

There is no love-fest going on. The Iraqi's largely hate us, and are constantly testing the wind.

I think it is wonderful that there is a drop in violence there. I would feel much better knowing what the cause was just to gauge if it will be lasting. That unfortunately isn't the case. I know I would also feel better if we could resurrect their dead.