The "Surge" a "Success"? I really don't think so

I found this blog post over at TPM and found it fascinating. I thought it might be nice to re-post the information here. It's certainly worthy of repeating.

There has been a lot of talk lately, especially from the presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain, that the "surge" that took place in Iraq has been a huge success. But has it been? There are a number of factors that would lead one to a different conclusion, such as the point of view of the Iraqis themselves.

What the US has been calling the success of a "surge," many Iraqis see as evidence of catastrophe. Where US forces point to peace and calm, local Iraqis find an eerie silence.

And when US forces speak of a reduction in violence, many Iraqis simply do not know what they are talking about.

Hundreds died in a series of explosions in Baghdad last month. This was despite the strongest ever security measures taken by the US military, riding the "surge" in security forces and their activities.

There has been a separation, rather than a coming together, of Sunnis and Shiites, by a 12-foot high concrete wall.

The actual number of civilian deaths are being cherry picked by U.S. Officials to exclude deaths by car bombs, which are one of the deadliest forms of violence in Iraq.

Let's not forget the number of Iraqis who have been killed. For Iraqi Security Forces, the number of deaths increased in 2007 over 2006 and haven't significantly dropped. Not to mention the civilian deaths, which haven't seen an extremely huge drop, either. Of course, the numbers that we see reported on such websites are estimates, and the actual numbers are probably much higher.

What about non-combatant deaths? We don't hear a lot about those.

Non-combatant deaths in Afghanistan at U.S. and NATO hands grew approximately 74 percent last year.

Huge success.

Or what about military suicides?

A record number of active-duty soldiers killed themselves last year, according to The Washington Post.

The paper cites an internal Army study that shows 121 soldiers committed suicide in 2007. That's a 20% increase over the prior year, the Post says.

Wow.

And if we want to talk about the strength of al-Qaida, why is it that back when the surge was in full-force, al-Qaida was stronger than ever?

U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded al-Qaida has rebuilt its operating capability to a level not seen since just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, The Associated Press has learned.

Hey, listen, I'm not saying that certain things haven't improved. And when it comes to things like al-Qaida, I would not be surprised to learn that their operating power has dropped since that report. But that does not make it a "success". An improvement, perhaps. But not a "success".

Can the few improvements we have seen really be called a "success"? I think it would be a major stretch to do so.