The conventional wisdom is that we lost the battle of Fallujah, by pulling back and letting a former Ba'athist general take over. In that context, reader Mike Puckett points out this very encouraging news.

With this kind of good news, combined with the bringing to heel of Al-Sadr, it's easy to see why the quagmirists in the media want to keep the focus on Abu Ghraib.

Hopefully, We may have found a new model in dealing with problem areas.

Ahmad Chalabi says Fallujah is now a car bomb factory.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iraq%20Chalabi%20Fallujah

Hmmm.. leader assasinated, fighting in several cities, British soliders fighting hand to hand with boyonets in Basra...

Anything else? Oh yes, Siemens pulling out all electrical power workers, summer electricity supplies in serious trouble, loads of other good stuff in that left wing rag The Economist...

And we're handing over power??? Mad.

Here is an Iraqi who gets the big picture of why we are there and the best and quickest way for us to leave. It is amazing to me how many people seem to want this exercise to fail. Of course those hoping for failure, whether Islamic fundamentalists or leaders of certain European countries don't give a flip about what happens to Iraqi citizens.

"Those bullets that are fired will not get the Americans out, let them finish their job here so that they can return to their country," Latif said.

This is the message both Iraq and elements within the USA need to get. Kerry suggesting that the UN take over is enough reason to keep him out of the office.

Maybe the right Iraqi general and the right approach have been found. That would be great. In any case, we are learning by doing, making many mistakes - but not the same mistake twice. The
lesson is as valuable as the result.