PETRAEUS CLAIMS SURGE IS WORKING BUT GIVES NO HARD EVIDENCE

Petraeus is living up to expectations by claiming that the surge is working. And the Republicans in congress are falling over themselves praising him. Okay, Let the Republicans be the party that embraces the War in Iraq. Let's take the issue into the next elections. By that time, there will still be approximately the same number of U.S. troops in Iraq, no matter what Petraeus says about a draw-down. There will still be deaths of U.S. soldiers from IEDs and other violent attacks. There will still be sectarian violence raging throughout Iraq. Let the Republicans constitute the party in favor of the War in Iraq. Let them who want to keep this war going explain "progress" then.

William Branigin and Robin Wright write for The Washington Post that Petraeus claims that there has been a decrease in violence since the surge began.

"Appearing with the top U.S. diplomat in Iraq to report to Congress on military and political developments in the four-year-old war effort, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus claimed major progress for the so-called "surge," the deployment of an additional 30,000 troops to Iraq last spring.

"Citing a drop in the overall level of violence in Iraq, Petraeus said, "I believe that we will be able to reduce our forces to pre-surge levels . . . without jeopardizing security gains we fought so hard to achieve." He said he also believes that "it is possible to achieve our objectives in Iraq over time," although this will be "neither quick nor easy.""

Note that neither Wright or Branigin give numbers or figures offered by Petraeus backing up his claim. Furthermore, these main stream reporters from the WashPo seem to accept without questioning Petraeus' argument that the surge is working and that there has been a drop in the overall level of violence in Iraq.

Petraeus can't give numbers because his claim is specious spin, designed to give Bush and the whole Republican Party cover in their attempt to foist Bush's foreign policy catastrophe off to the next president.