Murtha Backs the Surge

Looks like hades is a little frosty today.

From the Pittsburg Post-Gazette:

Murtha finds military progress in trip to Iraq

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. John Murtha today said he saw signs of military progress during a brief trip to Iraq last week, but he warned that Iraqis need to play a larger role in providing their own security and the Bush administration still must develop an exit strategy.

"I think the 'surge' is working," the Democrat said in a videoconference from his Johnstown office, describing the president's decision to commit more than 20,000 additional combat troops this year. But the Iraqis "have got to take care of themselves."

Violence has dropped significantly in recent months, but Mr. Murtha said he was most encouraged by changes in the once-volatile Anbar province, where locals have started working closely with U.S. forces to isolate insurgents linked to Al Qaeda.

He said Iraqis need to duplicate that success at the national level, but the central government in Baghdad is "dysfunctional."

With Murtha's verification of what the administration and others have been saying there is little room for doubt. Now the question is what can be done to light a fire under the Iraqi governments keister and get them to start making real progress? For those running for POTUS that may prove to be the fifty thousand dollar question. And I, for one, will be listening intently to their answers.

Petraeus, The Surge, and The Choices

Petraeus' report essentially confirms what independent journalist/blogger Michael J Totten saw in his recent trip to Iraq. In some places the surge is working and in some it isn't. We can hem and haw all we want about the surge but the simple fact of the matter is that there isn't going to be a significant decrease in troop levels until after W is out of office. Even then the draw down of forces is in my opinion likely only to be enough to prevent genocide in Iraq which means we'll still have a significant number of troops there for years to come.

With those being the most likely options we as voters have a limited number of choices either one crosses their fingers and prays the surge works, one can demand the immediate withdraw of all forces knowing that it'll take two years to accomplish won't be done while W is in office and knowing that we'll probably have to retake Iraq's only port to do it since the Brit's pulled out of there and that a genocide may follow, or one could continue to support the war despite the fact that its been badly run save for what progress the surge has brought.

As for me, I'm crossing my fingers. Odds are though if we can't get it right this time around we never will.

Of Note

The NY Daily News asked Michael J Totten to wrote a short piece on whether or not he thought the surge was working. His response...

While American politicians bicker among themselves from eight time zones away about whether the surge led by Gen. David Petraeus is working or not, I returned to Iraq to see for myself.

This trip - from which I returned this month - was my fourth reporting stint in the country since the conflict began. And this time, what I saw was overwhelming, undeniable and, like it or not, complicated: In some places, the surge is working remarkably well. In others, it is not. And the only way we will know for sure whether the tide can be turned is to continue the policy and wait.

I know that's not what many Americans and politicians want to hear, but it's the truth.

Take some time today to read the column in its entirety.