Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

It is one thing to re-write history, quite another to re-write the present, as some willfully blind progressives are doing who still insist that the surge has not worked. Even the New York Times , no friend to the Bush administration, knows that life has improved in Iraq – largely due to the success of the surge.

More depressing news for the anti-war crowd. An Oct. 14 report in the Washington Post , not generally known as a hotbed of neo-cons, has revealed that the surge is working. “A congressional study and several news stories in September questioned reports by the U.S. military that casualties were down. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), challenging the testimony of Gen. David H. Petraeus, asserted that "civilian deaths have risen" during this year's surge of American forces. “A month later, there isn't much room for such debate, at least about the latest figures. In September, Iraqi civilian deaths were down 52 percent from August and 77 percent from September 2006, according to the Web site icasualties.org . The Iraqi Health Ministry and the Associated Press reported similar results. U.S. soldiers killed in action numbered 43 -- down 43 percent from August and 64 percent from May, which had the highest monthly figure so far this year. The American combat death total...