Suitably Flip

Trend on the Mend

American service member deaths in Iraq were lower again in October, and are the lowest in nearly two years and the second-lowest total since February 2004.  Per USA Today:

While there are no reliable figures on Iraqi civilian deaths, anecdotal evidence also points towards significant progress.

At what's believed to be the world's largest cemetery, where Shiite Muslims aspire to be buried and millions already have been, business isn't good.

A drop in violence around Iraq has cut burials in the huge Wadi al Salam cemetery here by at least one-third in the past six months, and that's cut the pay of thousands of workers who make their living digging graves, washing corpses or selling burial shrouds.

These recent reports are very welcome news, but the trend is even more exciting.  The surge is working, but be careful telling that to Democrats.  Recall the letter Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi penned in June:

As many had foreseen, the escalation has failed to produce the intended results
...
The increase in US forces has had little impact in curbing the violence or fostering political reconciliation
...
In fact, the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for US troops.

Being shortsighted and rashly critiquing American progress are not very becoming.  That's okay, Reid and Pelosi weren't alone in their attempt to justify their political objectives.  Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama made this assessment in late July:

Here's what we know. The surge has not worked.

Perhaps "here's what we know" was not the right introductory sentence. 

There is still a ways to go in Iraq but Gen. Petraeus has demonstrated that he is the right guy for the job.  I wonder if the vote was held again, if Senators Reid and Obama would change their minds.

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Trend on the Mend

American service member deaths in Iraq were lower again in October, and are the lowest in nearly two years and the second-lowest total since February 2004.  Per USA Today:

While there are no reliable figures on Iraqi civilian deaths, anecdotal evidence also points towards significant progress.

At what's believed to be the world's largest cemetery, where Shiite Muslims aspire to be buried and millions already have been, business isn't good.

A drop in violence around Iraq has cut burials in the huge Wadi al Salam cemetery here by at least one-third in the past six months, and that's cut the pay of thousands of workers who make their living digging graves, washing corpses or selling burial shrouds.

These recent reports are very welcome news, but the trend is even more exciting.  The surge is working, but be careful telling that to Democrats.  Recall the letter Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi penned in June:

As many had foreseen, the escalation has failed to produce the intended results
...
The increase in US forces has had little impact in curbing the violence or fostering political reconciliation
...
In fact, the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for US troops.

Being shortsighted and rashly critiquing American progress are not very becoming.  That's okay, Reid and Pelosi weren't alone in their attempt to justify their political objectives.  Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama made this assessment in late July:

Here's what we know. The surge has not worked.

Perhaps "here's what we know" was not the right introductory sentence. 

There is still a ways to go in Iraq but Gen. Petraeus has demonstrated that he is the right guy for the job.  I wonder if the vote was held again, if Senators Reid and Obama would change their minds.