View From The Middle
The "Surge" In Iraq Is Working - Barely; Like It Or Not
By Charles Rogers

It was only a little more than six or seven months ago that General David Petraeus sat before a Congressional committee - and before the nation - and said that we needed a "surge" to get things going and turn things around in Iraq. He noted in a fantastically big understatement (can an understatement be big? If so, this was a whoppers!) that things hadn't been going so well until that time. But he also noted that, if given some more troops in order to present a "surge," under his command things would make that all-important turn.

At the time, there were naysayers from all sides who said we should pull the troops out "now, without delay;" cut our losses and get the hell out. Congress didn't want to allow any more troops over there and surely didn't want any more money to be put into the Iraq coffer.

It was understandable; from a political standpoint and from a compassionate and humanitarian standpoint. How long must we see our soldiers and their Iraqi charges murdered? How long must this blood be on our own hands due to mistake after mistake and downright mismanagement?

But General Petraeus, wise from experience, said he felt his plan would work: brigades of American troops would be sent into Baghdad and other major cities to help build up Iraq's home forces; to assuage those who had not fled their own country; to be advisors, not conquerors.

There was plenty of bickering, but, in the end, the politics of it notwithstanding, Petraeous' surge plan was put into effect.

And you know what? It's working!

It's barely working, but it's oh, so slowly coming together. Admit it. Just look around. Read the papers and pay attention for once to the media pundits who, even as they argue the point, cannot deny that refugees who fled Baghdad and their other, normally-quiet home towns are returning. In the past week there have been two or three suicide bombings, unfortunately, but the reports coming out of that hotbed are easily more optimistic than they have been for at least the past year. Reporters who have just returned have said there is a "marked'difference now than even six months ago when the surge was barely begun.

And of course there is a lot of hollering from those who are - and have been from the start - against the surge plan. Those are the ones who snickered and turned the other way when naysayers called the esteemed general who engineered this deal "General Betray-us!"

It was only last week that legislation funding the military operations was voted upon by the House, which authorized spending $50 billion of the nearly $200 billion President Bush wanted for the Iraq and Afghanistan operations, but with the caveat that certain standards be met, such as troop withdrawal should begin within a month and that there should be full withdrawal of all troops by December of 2008.

Of course, the Senate did not pass that. Nor will they. The next step is for someone to recognize what is really happening there. Yes, there is something different in Iraq. It's called a lack of the violence that has persisted for years. The oxymoron here is that peace - even in the distant future - is the loud sound of silence.

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