Kim Kagan has a very strong piece in this morning’s Wall Street Journal on the really astonishing progress being made by Gen. Petraeus and his troops. Among the points she makes:

American forces are in the midst of a large, complex campaign to defeat al Qaeda, dismantle Iranian-backed Shiite criminal militias, support a growing grass-roots movement in the Sunni population, and create space for political progress at the national level. Al Qaeda is not defunct by any means. It continues to fight and is trying to re-establish itself. It will certainly try to conduct a large-scale terror campaign to coincide with Gen. Petraeus’s report to Americans later this month on the progress of the surge. …
Significant challenges remain in establishing security, building up Iraqi forces capable of maintaining it and helping the Iraqi government achieve reconciliation and unity. But few expected the progress made so far. The tide in Iraq is clearly turning as the Iraqi people are voting with their lives to fight with us against terrorists and militias. Now is not the time to give up the fight

Worth reading the whole piece.