About that surge: CNN's national security analyst Peter Bergen spoke with Anderson Cooper, July 15th

[flpoljunkie]

COOPER: Peter, you were just in Iraq, you're in Kabul, Afghanistan right now. McCain says because of the surge, Al Qaeda in Iraq is on the run. Is he right and does that and how big an impact is that in terms of overall violence?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I actually think both the Democrats and the Republicans have been overemphasizing the surge. If it was just about the surge, the violence would be back up again because the surge is over. There are some underlying factors that are much more important in Iraq in my view.

One -- the fact that Al Qaeda in Iraq, they basically scored a series of own goals by its Taliban-style tactics, producing this wave of revulsion against and amongst the Sunnis. Now we put up a 100,000 Sunni militia on the American payroll, people who used to be shooting at the United States who are now on our payroll.

We also see the Prime Minister Maliki, no one could say a good thing about him a year and a half ago in Washington. Turning out to be a somewhat effective leader going into Basra, taking out the Shia militias there, going into Sadr City, taking out the Shia militias there.

We've also seen the Iraqi army which, Anderson, is really much larger than the Afghan army and much more effective in a country which is smaller and with a smaller population.

So there were some underlying factors that actually suggest that long- term success in Iraq is plausible. It's possible the surge, of course, was one aspect of it. But to say that the surge caused all these changes is I think simply very simplistic essentially.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0807/15/acd.02.html

[Richardo]

1. What happens when we stop paying the Sunni militia?

I think we all know that.

[kentuck]

2. What do you think will happen??

We have armed them so they can protect themselves against the Shia when we leave. So that it won't be a one-sided civil war?

[applegrove]

3. Important to remind us all of this as Mccain runs around claiming success of "his" surge.

[flpoljunkie]

4. Too bad that fact goes virtually uncovered in the main stream media.

[applegrove]

5. Let us hope Obama's trip brings out stories like this one on the MSM.