Wanted to do a Fly By on the War on terrorism and some key stories out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Not much time for commentary on these this morning.

To the surprise (actually, ‘dismay’ would be a more accurate word) of the liberal media the results of The Surge are still paying dividends. The death toll in Iraq dropped by around 30% since just August and is down around 2006 levels.

And if any thinks the military is just sitting on its rations waiting for the political tide to turn in Iraq they are naive. The second phase of The Surge is going full steam – and that is the diplomatic surge that will create the security and stability to hold the areas cleansed of al-Qaeda’s butchers.

Here in Iraq’s dusty Sunni Arab hinterland, teams of US diplomats, soldiers, aid experts and Iraqi-US advisers are rumbling about country roads in convoys of armoured Humvees to listen to the concerns and grievances of Iraq’s much neglected local governments.

They are part of an inter-agency effort known as the Provincial Reconstruction Teams, or PRTs, and represent a philosophy of development that differs from the early post-invasion years – rather than spend billions to build infrastructure, it aims to increase Iraq’s capacity to spend its own money.

While our death toll is heading downward, the death toll on the side of our enemy is heading upward as the snowball of intelligence starts rolling. 60 militants were killed in Iraq over the weekend. The snowball is growing because of tips from locals turning on al-Qaeda and from information found when we uncover their hideouts.

Don’t forget to read my earlier post on 30,000 Iraqi volunteers ready to destroy al-Qaeda!

Everyone who knows what is going on in Iraq is panning the ridiculous idea put forth by the Democrat led Congress to divide Iraq into ethnic states. That includes both Iraqi Sunni and Shiites. For one, there are two many integrated areas to do this kind of carving. But the idea the US Congress can dictate how another democracy should be architected is the epitome of arrogance. The plan is going nowhere except the trash can – where it belongs.

al-Qaeda has not been able to penetrate one of the world’s larger Muslim communities. It turns out Indian Muslims are just not flocking to al-Qaeda’s call and are more likely to resist the Islamo Fascists. I would guess years of terrorism over Kashmir have taught the Indian Muslims what a waste of humanity Islamo Fascism is.

It seems those groups affiliated with al-Qaeda are losing support across the Middle East. In this reporting a Lebonese group tied to al-Qaeda is being shunned by other Sunni groups, even by other radical Sunni groups. al-Qaeda’s massacring of Muslims may finally be astrocizing them from the broader Muslim community.

And finally, al-Qaeda is now forced to dress in drag to get their suicide bombs on target. The burqa wearing bomber seems to be the new fashion trend in the cowardly al-Qaeda warriors arsenal. Before burqas were only used by al-Qaeda ‘leaders’ to sneak away from coalition forces. No news yet on whether al-Qaeda will also be donning sheep skin, pig hide, or dog fur to hide out among the rest of the animals. But one has to wonder if dressing as a woman will void all access to the 70 virgins clause in the Koran? Maybe these folks get 70 male virgins for the burqa bomb approach?

Hope everyone has a great day!