The news just keeps getting worse and worse for the left, what with their being invested in defeat and all (By Jamie Findlater at DefenseLink News)
Captures of al Qaeda operatives and seizures of weapons caches in Iraq are up, and casualties are down, a senior military official in Baghdad told online journalists and “bloggers†today.
Air Force Col. Donald Bacon, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, attributed a large part of this success to the surge of operations, the increase in activity among Iraqi security forces, and most recently, the formation of concerned local citizens groups, known as CLCs.
Since surge operations began in June, Bacon said, al Qaeda attacks are down 55 percent, civilian deaths are down 60 percent, coalition casualties are down 55 percent, and Iraqi forces casualties are down 40 percent.
Iraqi security forces are becoming increasingly active, with Iraqi forces now bearing a big brunt of the casualties, taking 50 percent more casualties than U.S. forces, the colonel explained.
Bacon touted the CLC program’s importance.
“Concerned local citizens are part of the force protection plan; without them, al Qaeda would move back in the region,†Bacon said. In October, Bacon noted, 43 al Qaeda leaders were captured or killed, up from 29 in September, 25 in August, and 18 in July. To become part of the CLC, citizens are given biometrics and put under a contract which includes a sworn allegiance to protect the Iraqi government.
CLCs also have increased the number of uncovered weapon caches. Of the 72 caches uncovered in October, 40 of them were found by CLCs.
So, The Surge is working. The end plan is coming together, and, barring a major setback (usually known as the American Left), the troops will be slowly coming home.
As Allahpundit at Hot Air wrote regarding something similar:
If the left wasn’t quite so heavily invested in defeat this would be an easy one to play. For starters, instead of the constant “it’s not working it’s not working it’s not working†refrain, they could point to stories like this and take a “declare victory and go home†approach.
BTW, I have a really cool video to go with this post, but, cannot access it with the PC I am on. Stay tuned till about 7pm.
