More proof Democrats are wrong about surge

Washington Times:

U.S. commanders welcomed news yesterday that July was the least deadly month for their forces in Iraq since last November.

Official figures showed at least 73 American service members were killed in July, the lowest figure since last November, when 70 died.

Deaths of U.S. troops in Iraq had spiked in recent months as they fanned out into dangerous Baghdad neighborhoods under the new "surge" strategy. May was the deadliest month in 2½ years with 126 killed. More than 100 Americans died in both April and June.

"Any time you are talking about coalition forces being safe, we gladly welcome that and hope to see it continue as a trend, that due to our operations the level of violence and level of attacks against coalition forces goes down," said U.S. military spokesman Army Lt. Col. Christopher Garver.

"We said at the beginning of the summer, it's going to get harder before it gets easier. Now we hope to see that pay off."

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What this demonstrates is that the Democrat strategy was not only wrong in Iraq, it is also wrong for the war as a whole. A defensive strategy makes it easier for the enemy to maintain the initiative and and go after our forces on his schedule. By taking the fight to the enemy, we put him on the defensive and destroy his forces and make it more difficult for him to kill ours. While the enemy may try to up the ante before the September reporting deadline, it is very possible he may no longer have the capacity.