The Iraqis continue to break from al Qaeda and ally with the Iraqi government and assist US forces. The Surge is still a few weeks away from final deployment, and then it will take some weeks to get the effort actually ramped up and operating. So anyone trying to assess are results now is clearly being premature. Last thing we need is any more premature surrendering. From any side. The fact is we are not there yet. But the trend lines look good. If Anbar can be replicated there is good cause to expect a level of success that will allow us to start a controlled draw down sometimg in the future. As was always the case it is up to the Iraqis. And since they took up arms against al Qaeda they have been on a good glide path.

Update: The truce between al-Qaeda and one of the Sunni groups that has been fighting with al-Qaeda (but not joining the Sunni Awakening movement to reject al-Qaeda and support the Iraq democratic government) might not be all it was touted to be. We have seen these calls for truce before. The test is whether the bombings of civilians ends. I have my doubts. But this is NOT the setback some claim. The Anbar and Diyala Awakenings never included this Islamic Army. It is one of the last holdouts to reject al-Qaeda outright, if not the last one. This is not, in and by itself, the salvation of al-Qaeda. Let’s see if they can stop killing Muslims before we give them a victory.