Wow... Massive Progress In Iraq

General Betrayus speaketh, and the world listeneth:

Overall Assessment: “The military objectives of the surge are in large measure being met.” Most Important Development: The rejection of Al Qaeda by Sunni tribes in Anbar province. Other areas are following suit, he adds.
End of Surge: The troop levels in Iraq can return to pre-surge levels by the Summer of 2008, he said. “However, in my professional judgment, it would be premature to make recommendations on the pace of such reductions at this time,” he added.
Troop Cuts This Year: He said a Marine unit was set to leave this month, and a combat brigade of 4,000 troops could leave in December, as was reported this morning in The Times.
Violence: A slew of charts reports that violence is dropping in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq. The general says the number of attacks and deaths would be lower without Al Qaeda in Iraq’s attacks. One chart shows that two provinces have seen increasing violence during the surge.
Al Qaeda in Iraq: The deals with Sunnis in Anbar province and operations against leaders of Al Qaeda in Iraq have left the group “off balance,” but not defeated, he asserted.
Iran: The general said there is evidence that the Iranian government is using its Al Quds force to help spur the insurgency in Iraq, a charge that the U.S. military has leveled before. The aim, he said, was to create a friendly organization in Iraq as Iran has in Lebanon with Hezbollah. The general closed his statement, which lasted about 30 minutes, by buttering up lawmakers.

Filched from the Lede (NY Times)

Not for nothing but, most of this is complete rubbish. And, when it isn't complete rubbish it's just made up stuff for the sake of a cheap sound bite-talking point.
It really is sad that this is the best this shower could come up with. Stale ideas, shabby reporting, propositions a five year old could conjure, it looks as if they really did not take this whole thing very seriously and threw something together the night before. Kinda like their entire Iraq strategy, so why did I expect more.