With the Surge only 1/2 way to full deployment and a lot yet to accomplish, there are many signs of progress and change. Here are some articles discussing these signs of progress. The first is by John McCain which lays out all the changes he has seen, including the opportunity to meet with our new allies, Sunnis in Anbar province.

I just returned from my fifth visit to Iraq since 2003 – and my first since Gen. David Petraeus’s new strategy has started taking effect. For the first time, our delegation was able to drive, not use helicopters, from the airport to downtown Baghdad.

For the first time, we met with Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar province who are working with American and Iraqi forces to combat al-Qaida. For the first time, we visited Iraqi and American forces deployed in a joint security station in Baghdad – an integral part of the new strategy. We held a news conference to discuss what we saw: positive signs, underreported in the United States, that are reason for cautious optimism.

The second article is by Kimberly Kagan discussing how al Qaeda screwed up and basically chased the Sunni’s into an alliance with the Iraqi government.

Al Qaeda terrorism provoked many of Anbar’s sheiks actively to cooperate with U.S. Forces, oppose all terrorists in the province, support the Iraqi Police and Army, form an effective city government and strengthen the provincial council. The sheiks called their movement “The Awakening.” The hostility of the local population changed Ramadi from an al Qaeda stronghold into an area effectively contested by U.S. and Iraqi forces.

The presence of U.S. forces conducting counterinsurgency missions to secure the population made the local rejection of al Qaeda possible and effective. The leadership and example of the sheiks of Ramadi inspired other sheiks in neighboring cities to cooperate with U.S. and Iraqi forces. As a result of their efforts, especially in late 2006 and early 2007, al Qaeda no longer controlled Ramadi or Fallujah. By February 2007, U.S. and Iraqi forces were pushing the enemy from the other cities in the province.

The last article details how the top Marine General in Iraq see things on the ground, and the progress being made.

Still, on his visit Conway was told by numerous U.S. commanders throughout Anbar that the tide had shifted against al-Qaida in Iraq when Sunni tribal sheiks who previously opposed U.S. forces decided to start cooperating instead.

The new cooperation has enabled U.S. forces in recent months to clear extremist elements from even the most violent areas, including Ramadi, and to put more Iraqi forces on the streets, Conway was told. Cooperation by the sheiks also has quickly created a Sunni police force in areas where none existed.

As McCain says in his article, these are stories you will not see in the mainstream media as they try to cover up our sucesses in Iraq. Once the word gets out the left will take such a political hit. Nothing is worse than predicting a loss and being wrong.