Increased force to space working in Baghdad

NY Times:

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki told President Bush on Friday that the increased effort to provide security in Baghdad had gone exceedingly well so far, Mr. Maliki’s office said in a statement.

The two spoke via video link and, according the statement, Mr. Maliki said, “The security plan has been a dazzling success during its first days.”

Across Baghdad, there were signs of the heightened troop presence, as cars were searched at new checkpoints and raids resulted in the arrest of at least 35 people, according to Iraqi officials.

Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of the First Cavalry Division in Baghdad, told reporters on Friday that there had been a substantial reduction in violence in the past 48 hours, which he attributed both to the increased troop presence and the decision by Sunni and Shiite militants to keep a low profile.

“They’re watching us carefully,” he said. “There’s an air of suspense throughout the city. We believe, there’s no question about it, that many of these extremists are laying low and watching to see what it is we do and how we do it. How long that will last, we don’t know.”

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Many of the enemy are streaming toward Diyala as I had predicted when the surge was announced. It is an area where the US and Iraqi forces cleared several enemy bunkers and weapons caches in December. It is also an area that does not provide the cover that Baghdad did to the enemy. US and Iraqi forces should have an excellent opportunity to destroy the enemy in Diyala. Meanwhile, as the evidence mounts that the surge is working , it also mounts that Democrats who opposed it are just flat wrong. It demonstrates their ignorance of warfare and their desperation for defeat that they would vote for a non binding resolution against a working military operation. They will be ashamed of that vote.