US optimistic the Iraq surge is starting to work

Despite al Qaida and the co-dependent left in this country we ARE succeeding in Iraq.

AFTER his visit to Iraq a few days ago the message Alexander Downer will give John Howard is that the Australian Government should keep its nerve and maintain its present troop commitment for the election. This is not just Downer's advice to Howard. It reveals the military advice Downer got when he was in Iraq last week.

Petraeus told Downer that al-Qa'ida was conducting its own campaign to discredit President George W. Bush's surge strategy - that it was going for highly populated targets for maximum impact. He said the number of attacks was down, though the number of casualties remained high. He advised, however, that since the surge began, there had been a decline in sectarian killings.

Iraqis and some tribal chiefs are turning their guns against al-Qa'ida while al-Qa'ida's tactics have an overriding aim: to shift US public opinion further against the war.