IS THE SURGE WORKING? points from Sen.s Webb, McCain & Lieberman

[underpants]

*SPECIAL* Bonus feature Count how many times Patreus is mentioned in each piece


By JIM WEBB
Editor's note: On the Dec. 2 broadcast of "Meet the Press," moderator Tim Russert asked Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), in regard to Iraq, "Is the military surge working?" Below is the senator's response.


WASHINGTON There are certain elements in Iraq that I think have benefited from the surge, and I think there are other elements that have had their own momentum. And I think it's important to make those distinctions. There are a lot of pieces in motion over there.

I would look at four different components that have come together to give us an interval here, a very important interval, where hopefully we can move forward with some of the overarching diplomatic approaches that I and some other people have been advocating for a long time.

The first element is al-Anbar. And this is a -- this is a piece -- the awakening, the Sunni awakening, which has been used by the administration as evidence of the fact that the surge is working. This was happening before the surge began, well before the surge began, and it would have been happening even if there wasn't a surge.

The second situation is the rift in the Shia....

The third is the elements of international terrorism...

THE FOURTH piece is what's happening up in the Kurdish areas...

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By JOHN MCCAIN AND JOE LIEBERMAN

WASHINGTON It was exactly one year ago , in a televised address to the nation, that President George W. Bush announced his fateful decision to change course in Iraq, and to send five additional U.S. combat brigades there as part of a new counterinsurgency strategy and under the command of a new general, David Petraeus.

The question we face, on the first anniversary of the surge, is no longer whether the president's decision a year ago was the right one, or if the counterinsurgency strategy developed by Petraeus is working. It is.

As the surge should have taught us by now, troop numbers matter in Iraq. We should adjust those numbers based on conditions on the ground and the recommendations of our commanders in Iraq -- first and foremost, Gen. Petraeus, who above all others has proven that he knows how to steer this war to a successful outcome.


If the mismanagement of the Iraq war from 2003 to 2006 exposed our government's capacity for incompetence, Petraeus' leadership this past year, and the conduct of the troops under his command, have reminded us of our capacity for the wisdom, the courage, and the leadership that has always rallied our nation to greatness.

[Demeter]

1. Is the Surge Working? Well, Has Anybody Been Impeached Yet?

Then I guess it's working.