THE IRAQ SURGE:WHY IT'S WORKING THE IRAQ SURGE:WHY IT'S WORKING

GORDON CUCULLU: THE IRAQ SURGE:WHY IT'S WORKING describes an interview with Gen. David Petraeus, who suggested reasons that the "surge" is working. A lot of its success so far can be attributed to the embedding of our troops with Iraqi security forces and placing them in the neighborhoods of Baghdad. I think a good analogy would be to neighborhood policing. One big result has been a significant increase in actionable intelligence. Indeed, the security forces have gone from too little intelligence to too much to process. But Petraeus suggests that the later situation is always far preferable to the former. He also talks about how many of the tribal chiefs in Anbar Provence have signed on, determining that enough is enough when it comes to al Qaeda. Indeed, their members are now signing on with the government in droves - a far cry from even six months ago, when the Iraqi security forces were almost entirely composed of Shi'a and Kurds.