The "Surge"

[Haggis@wk]

GOOD NEWS:

"The number of truck bombs and other large al-Qaeda-style attacks in Iraq have declined nearly 50% since the United States started increasing troop levels in Iraq about six months ago, according to the U.S. military command in Iraq."

You can make too much of numbers like this -- but you can bet that if the trend were going the other way it would be getting a lot more attention.

[Shapley]

The concern right now is that the terrorists are gearing up toward a Tet style offensive centered around the September progress report. The lesson of Vietnam has been learned by many outside this country. There is some concern that we are seeing 'the calm before the storm'.

Let us pray that they are wrong. If they are right, however, let us pray that it does not play into the terrorists hands and lead to an untimely and unsatisfactory end to the reconstruction of Iraq.

[barfle]

I doubt if there is anyone who hopes it succeeds more than I do. While it is encouraging news, I still don't see that it's anything more than putting a bigger cork in a hole that's bigger than any cork. I hope I'm wrong.