Surging to success in Iraq

Strategy Page:

The "surge" offensive in and around Baghdad is paying off, at least according to the casualties and bombs going off. In April, May and June, there were about four American combat deaths a day, but that is down to 2.7 for July. The main reason is that there are fewer roadside bombs (IEDs), and the reason for that is more of the IED factories, and specialists that make and plant them, are being taken out of action. Iraqi security forces and civilians are also suffering fewer casualties (from 3,000 in February to about a thousand for July).

... Only 22 percent of patients flown to Germany for more advanced medical care, were combat injuries. The rest were accidents, and, most of all, diseases.... (Emphasis added.)

In a very shorthand way this demonstrates one aspect of the success of the surge. It is really the way the Israelis defeated the Palestinian insurgency, by concentrating on the bomb factories. One of the reasons we are able to find them though was that the Iraqis were willing to come forward with information once we got into the neighborhoods to protect them. That is something that the Democrats just cannot comprehend in their mindless opposition to the surge and to winning in Iraq.