Everyone - it was NOT the "surge". It was the SUNNI AWAKENING!

[johnaries]

Here's some research for you all:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GWYA,GWYA:2005-19,GWYA:en&q=sunni+awakening

Basically, the Sunni's - led by their tribal leaders - got tired of al-Qaeda ON THEIR OWN. Hence the term "Awakening". To get them to switch sides, Patraeus "bribed" them with cash and weapons to switch sides. And all this happened BEFORE the surge!

SPREAD THE WORD!

[begin_within]

1. It was the Splurge.

[No Elephants]

3. Good one!

[johnaries]

4. Good name! Splurge vs Surge!

Good title for a chain email, methinks......

[eleny]

9. Bob, that's perfect!!! Send it to Keith...

[e-mail]

Oops - this is not a good email addy for him. Hopefully, we can find a good one.

[johnaries]

13. Yes! Get it to KO and let's get the media talking about it!

And the Splurge vs Surge title is "catchy" enough to get some attention!

[Poiuyt]

10. That picture of Cindy reminds me of something

[mwb970]

2. The al-Sadr cease fire helped too - Aug. 2007. /nt

[johnaries]

5. Here's an interesting "tidbit" about the al Sadr cease fire:

The cease fire was helped by.... (wait for it)..... IRAN!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/31/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iran was integral in persuading Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to halt attacks by his militia on Iraqi security forces, an Iraqi lawmaker said Monday.
......
The lawmakers who traveled to Iran to broker the cease-fire were from five Shiite parties, including the Sadrist movement. Al-Abadi would not say where in Iran the meeting was held.

The lawmakers hoped to persuade Iran to cut off aid to Shiite militias and to persuade al-Sadr to end the fighting. Negotiations were difficult, but the delegation achieved its aims, al-Abadi said.
...........
Iran's exact involvement in the negotiations is unclear, but two sources concur that the Islamic republic played a key role.

emphasis added

So, I guess direct talks actually DO work!

[SOS]

6. McCain wants us to think the Iraq occupation began in January 2007,

rather than in March 2003.
The first four disastrous years seem to have vanished into the Republican ether.

[Poiuyt]

7. Bob Woodward's new book claim that it was new covert techniques rather than the surge

The book also says that the U.S. troop "surge" of 2007, in which President Bush sent nearly 30,000 additional U.S. combat forces and support troops to Iraq, was not the primary factor behind the steep drop in violence there during the past 16 months.

Rather, Woodward reports, "groundbreaking" new covert techniques enabled U.S. military and intelligence officials to locate, target and kill insurgent leaders and key individuals in extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq.

more -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090403160.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008090404206&s_pos=

[johnaries]

11. Interesting. The point still is that the Dems (and Obama) were right.

The "surge" didn't work!

[mwb970]

12. To claim that a single factor "caused" any particular outcome in Iraq is simple-minded.

Kind of like Republican voters!

The situation in Iraq is frighteningly complex, in ways that are hard for Americans (even the "experts") to understand. Simply saying that the surge "worked" as a way to get votes is dishonest, simplistic, and disingenuous. Kind of like Republican leaders!

[sandnsea]

14. new techniques = bribery

when they locate and target insurgent leaders and pay them off so they will stop causing problems.

[johnaries]

15. When I first heard about the bribes on NPR and emailed some

friends at work, the only queston one of them had was "why didn't we bribe them sooner?"

[Nikki Stone1]

8. If Bush and Bremer hadn't disbanded the army, the Sunnis would have been with us all along

Petraeus just corrected an error.

[Orsino]

16. Too late. Obama already let O'Reilly force him into saying that the "Surge" worked.

Update your talking points, Comrades.

[eshfemme]

17. What's sadder is that the Sunni Awakening is now being punished for their hard work

I've been hearing reports that Maliki is treating them with much disrespect with stuff like sudden arrests and the like with these actions likely cultivating an underground rebel movement against him. So yeah, sounds like a volatile situation. Hence, why I felt that Obama should have stood by his original assessment that the surge was not successful. But I can see how he felt it was too hard to argue that point when he didn't really have much to back it up. After all, too many reports on Iraq are squashed/lost in the flow.

[johnaries]

18. Yeah, it seems it's a little too "complicated" for the

average couch potato to understand.

[Johnbluedude]

19. Great point

Petraeus himself has said it.