It seems success in Iraq is breaking out all across the SurrenderMedia today. Here is a sampling:

There are reports out of Iraq that violence has fallen to an all time, post-invasion low in that country – despite the planned campaign of carnage threatened by al-Qaeda:

Violence in Iraq is at its lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion, finally opening a window for reconciliation among rival sects, the second-ranking U.S. general said Sunday as Iraqi forces formally took control of security across half the country.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the man responsible for the ground campaign in Iraq, said that the first six months of 2007 were probably the most violent period since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The past six months, however, had seen some of the lowest levels of violence since the conflict began, Odierno said, attributing the change to an increase in both American troops and better-trained Iraqi forces.

…

Odierno said Anbar province, once plagued by violence, only recorded 12 attacks in the past week, down from an average of 26 per week over the past three months.

H/T to Gateway Pundit on this one. I was waiting to see the December numbers which come out near the end of the month to determine if the planned two month savagery al-Qaeda promised would come to fruition. As I stated previously on this threat of theirs, if there is no significant increase in violence nationally in December and January than it would be a sign of al-Qaeda’s growing impotency and pending defeat. Clearly the Anbar numbers are not reflecting much of a resurgence. The problem is al-Qaeda has been committing atrocities at breakneck speed all along. So it is impossible to increase their production while they are being chased and decimated.

The second article is an interesting retrospective in the UK Times looking back at the end of 2006 and now the end of 2007 – and how important the change in Iraq truly is. Speaking of his prior year’s predictions the author notes:

And there was one more that defied the notion that “the future is the past” completely. It was “Iraq is more peaceful in 2007 than at any time since the 2003 invasion”. Not only is this essentially correct but it is the most important story in the world this year.

By any measure, the US-led surge has been little short of a triumph. The number of American military fatalities is reduced sharply, as is the carnage of Iraqi civilians, Baghdad as a city is functioning again, oil output is above where it stood in March 2003 but at a far stronger price per barrel and, the acid test, many of those who fled to Syria and Jordan are today returning home.

The cheering has, of course, to come accompanied by caveats.

I’ll let folks read about the ubiquitous imperfections of human endeavors. No one promised “perfect” or Nirvana. But we do now have one of the largest Arab/Muslim nations in the Middle East firmly on our side fighting against al-Qaeda. Despite the marginal nuances of why we went into Iraq, the fact is Bin Laden and his thugs are now the enemy of Iraq, not an ally helping to kill Westerners. The bottom line is we are much better off threat-wise when we look at Iraq in 2002 and in 2008.

Finally, I suspect we are going to see many more stories of how brilliant Gen Petraeus was in turning Iraq around as we get into “the year that was” retrospectives. Here is one example:

On Thursday, Gen. David Petraeus addressed a gathering of hundreds of Sunni sheikhs in flowing robes, including some who were attacking his soldiers around the capital not long ago.

This is the new Baghdad, where security has improved as tens of thousands of former Sunni insurgents have recently turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq and smashed it with U.S. help. Many of these Sunnis are now on the U.S. payroll. But no one is certain whether these security gains will hold after the extra U.S. “surge” troops are withdrawn as scheduled by next July, or whether Iraq will slip back into brutal sectarian warfare.

…

“I think it is going the way we wanted in Baghdad and the belts around Baghdad,” he replied. “We have done considerable damage to al-Qaeda in Iraq. Anbar is transformed,” he added, referring to the Sunni province once home to the toughest insurgents and a base for al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Then he paused. “Tenuous is the right word to describe the situation,” he said, “and you won’t find any military commanders doing victory dances in the end zone. We are all guarded in our assessments, with a great deal of wariness about the what-might-be’s.”

No one can be sure if Iraq will reverse course again. But the probabilities are dwindling to zero rapidly. As peace breaks out people will not soon want to revisit the horrors of al-Qaeda and war. And with Iraqi heroes being made every day in the fight against al-Qaeda and its depraved Islamo Fascism the point is long gone for any sudden reconciliation between Iraqi Muslims and Bin Laden’s mad extremists. Anything can happen, but it is very likely we could see a 2008 which is just one continuous extension of the good news which started at the end of 2007.

Update: QandO have graphs up on the violence levels which are reminiscent of those General Petraeus presented to Congress around Sept 11th of this year. The trends are pretty darn clear! H/T reader MerlinOS2.