Violence is only a state of mind and a statistic to be interpreted by these guys.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/212/story/28607.html

Ok I will admit it, I am a bit of a humanist and pacifist so I guess that means that anything I say regarding the war is said with rose colored glasses, from a Republican perspective. But those pesky facts and uncooperative people who keep getting in the way of the Bush, Bush company and sympathizers to his agenda are keeping America down, I mean if we could all just fall in line and repeat the company motto then the whole world would be a better place, wouldn't it?

The 'surge' (whatever this brand term means) has not worked:
the ground war has shifted to an air war in Iraq and has intensified since 'the surge' began; and many speculate that violence has 'decreased' (and that depends on who you ask) because, after years of civil war, ethnic cleansing, and partitioning has mostly cycled (there are simply not enough people to kill any more-- they have been cleansed, have fled, etc). The 'surge' has not worked because there is no "Iraq' anymore: it is in the process of balkanization. As well, the terms 'surge', 'victory', 'Iraq' no longer mean what we once knew them to mean, or what we were told they meant. So a debate on 'the surge' is really quite yet another chapter in the classic 'allowing those with power to define terms, then wrestling, in futility, to try and glean meaning or truth from them'.