I just finished reading a series of article about how the surge in Iraq has failed. Is it me, or is this just another attempt by the anti-war crowd to rain on the success won on the blood, sweat, and tears of Coalition and Iraqi service members?

In 2005; after the Samarra Mosque bombing, the AWG (Anti-War Groups) said that was the last straw. Civil war, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and Iraq was (or would soon be) a failed state.

By the way none of that actually happened (especially not on the scale the media would have us believe). Baghdad (and Iraq) is still a mix of Shi’a, Sunni and Kurd. No ‘ethnic cleansing’ took place, and the Sunni weren’t all killed off or even driven out of Baghdad.

In 2006 we were still being sold that ‘any time now’ Iraq would collapse into civil war, and a failed state.

Before the surge they said it was a lost cause, and the surge wouldn’t provide any amount of success for this ‘failed state’.

During the surge (within 1 month of it starting in fact) the AWGs already were saying it had failed. Well before the surge even had 50% of its desired troops on the ground.

Now after the surge has completed the majority of its tasks on the ground; the AWGs are already saying it was a complete failure (as proven by the highest ‘body count’ in the war).

Since when did body counts make or break a war? In Vietnam the NVA lost over 1 Million men (estimated) in those 10 years, and the US lost 58,500. Clearly death tolls aren’t a measure of success or failure.

It seems to me that the Right (all their flaws taken into consideration) has been saying, “Give us a chance to see this thing through.” There have been good and bad decisions made all along the way, just like in every previous engagement we’ve been a part of since the Revolutionary War.

And the Left (all their concerns for positive change taken into consideration) has been changing its rally cries to match the problem of the day. Every time the military and/or Conservative politicians find a solution (small or large) to the problems at hand, the AWG seem to find a way to rain on any amount of success. Then they immediately prep for decrying any future attempt to resolve an issue by the military and/or Conservative politicians.

When will the AWG admit when success has been made? Why must they always find the negative in every situation? Yes the death toll was the highest in 2007, but that is what tends to happen when you increase offensive operations against a motivated insurgency and terrorist movement.

The last 3 months of 2007 was actually the lowest 3 month total (of deaths) in the last 4 years. But again numbers don’t make the war.

The Iraqi government is working to pass some major laws in 2008 (early ’08), and although they aren’t the Democracy ‘we’ want them to be; they are using the system to find solutions. They are also bringing in over $60 Billion in GDP annually, and using that money to buy infrastructure improvements and security enhancements. The average Iraqi enjoys more sewerage services, electricity, clean water, and basic education than ever before under Saddam. And it can only get better.

Or are we to just cover up those measures of success and simply cry out that Iraq is a failed state; disappear and simply leave these 25 million people to the insurgency?