Oh my, what will the Democrats try to “reverse” now in Iraq with success being so far along we are now reducing our troop strength (cautiously so as to NOT lose all the gains we have fought and died for over the last 6 months):

The first big test of security gains linked to the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq is at hand. The military has started to reverse the 30,000-strong troop increase and commanders are hoping the drop in insurgent and sectarian violence in recent months – achieved at the cost of hundreds of lives – won’t prove fleeting.

The current total of 20 combat brigades is shrinking to 19 as the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, operating in volatile Diyala province, leaves. The U.S. command in Baghdad announced on Saturday that the brigade had begun heading home to Fort Hood, Texas, and that its battle space will be taken by another brigade already operating in Iraq.

Between January and July – on a schedule not yet made public – the force is to shrink further to 15 brigades. The total number of U.S. troops will likely go from 167,000 now to 140,000-145,000 by July, six months before President Bush leaves office and a new commander in chief enters the White House.

The Surge succeeded. al-Qaeda is now the enemy of Iraqi Sunni Muslims. al-Qaeda may even be ready to leave Iraq since their only weapon is the massacring of Muslims to gain news headlines. With that as their one trick, it would be better al-Qeade just limped away and tried to rebuild its tattered image in the Muslim world.

The other reason al-Qaeda should just give up it they are being decimated by Iraqi forces more than by US forces. The more Iraqi Muslims who find success in destroying al-Qeada the worse al-Qaeda’s position becomes in the eyes of the Muslim world. Everyone cheers the winners. Right now US and Iraqi forces are more in mop-up operations, taking out the final small cells of al-Qaeda remnants which one time occupied many of Iraq’s major cities:

U.S. and Iraqi troops killed an estimated 15 al Qaeda gunmen during a fierce battle south of Baghdad after the militants launched a major attack on recently formed neighbourhood patrols, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

In a statement, the military said 30 to 45 al Qaeda fighters assaulted two checkpoints operated by local security guards on Monday using a mix of small arms and heavy-calibre machineguns mounted on trucks, sparking a day-long fight.

At one stage, American F-16 warplanes jets dropped two 500-pound bombs on routes used by the gunmen to attack the checkpoints in the town of Adwaniya, 20 km (12 miles) southeast of Baghdad near the Tigris River. The area has long been a haven for al Qaeda in Iraq.

The al Qaeda raid marked one of the biggest attacks on neighbourhood patrols since a programme to increase their numbers picked up steam in and around Baghdad a few months ago.

And this from the AP describing the sea change in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq:

Rocket and mortar attacks have fallen to their lowest level in nearly two years. Civilian deaths have dropped sharply since summer. Shoppers are venturing out, even in Baghdad’s most dangerous neighborhoods.
Iraq’s capital is by no means yet safe. But the trend toward better security is indisputable.

In short, the traumatized residents of this sprawling city are experiencing their first sense of normalcy after years of bombings, kidnappings and wholesale slaughter. Iraqi officials are speaking optimistically about reopening streets and gradually lifting the nighttime curfew to encourage public confidence.

…

Still, today’s calm is a far cry — and vast improvement — from the terror that gripped this city of 6 million people a year ago, as the country spiraled toward all-out sectarian civil war.
Then, armed bands of Shiite and Sunni gunmen roamed the streets, seizing people at illegal checkpoints and dumping their bodies by the dozens.

The sounds of car bombs, rocket and mortar fire reverberated through the streets. Iraqis, huddled in their homes, turning to Shiite militias and Sunni extremists to provide protection. Hundreds of thousands fled what amounted to ethnic cleansing.

Last December, 2,172 Iraqi civilians died violently, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press — most in Baghdad. But after a spike in June, violence in Baghdad began to ebb. In August, civilian deaths nationwide stood at 1,791, according to AP figures, and they fell to 878 in September and 750 in October.

More here on the relaxation of security constraints in Baghdad:

Iraqi military commanders signaled Monday that they would soon remove some roadblocks and other restrictions that had been imposed over the past nine months as part of the effort to reduce violence here in the capital.

…

Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the Iraqi spokesman for the operation, which began Feb. 14, said a recent decline in violence would allow the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to begin handing control of some areas of the city from soldiers to local police units.

“The first phase of the operation was represented by the deployment of military units,” General Moussawi said. “The second stage is purging the areas, securing them, bringing back displaced families and providing them with services. The last stage will be to hand over security responsibilities.”

He said, “We are in the phase of handing over the security responsibility from the army and national police to the local police of these areas.”

We will not pull out rashly, as proposed by the Dems now truly mad with Bush Derangement Syndrome. Their “lose at any cost so we can stick it to Bush” approach is beyond ‘sad’ and is now moving into ‘laughable’. There are reasonable doubts the peace will finally last. But each month it does continue and Iraq does get better the more people will finally be able to believe Iraq has succeeded.

And we should be a grateful nation providing our heroes a warm welcome home as the victors they are. They succeeded, and there is no sane political rational to say anything other than that. They succeeded.