petraeus is apparently testifying today that the surge is working, but needs more time. which is paradoxical. if it had worked, we wouldn't need any more time.
the surge was supposed to lower the violence to create a space for political reconciliation to happen. that was the goal of the surge strategy as bush defined it last january. the reconciliation has not happened, therefore the surge did not succeed.
the problem is, as has always been the problem with measuring progress in iraq, shifting definitions of "success." no matter what measure of success we start with, by the end success always just means whatever the bush administration calls "a success."
that, coupled with the administration's willingness to apply the term to just about anything, is why the iraq war has been such a resounding success all along. hurray!
