Remember that the surge plan came from a guy named Kagan, not from General Petraeus. What you and many others fail to acknowlege that people said that there might be a short term reduction in violence but that it would not resolve the problems with the various groups. The fact that there was a sudden outbreak of violence between the Badr group and the Mehdi army in Basra just a couple of months ago is a problem. It shows that the militias are still armed and still capable of defeating the Iraqi army. The Iraqi government had to go to Iran to beg Sadr for a cease fire.

It is too early to declare the surge a success. After we have withdrawn, we could make a final analysis.....the fact is that we do not have enough troops to do the job in Afghanistan and the surge used up the only available troops. Now the admiral in charge of both theaters says we will have to wait for a year to reinforce Afghanistan.