A McCainiac e-mailed this morning to remind that on Sept. 12, Hillary Clinton told General Petraeus that his progress report on Iraq required “a willing suspension of disbelief.” Is that her response to this, from yesterday?

Al-Qaida may not yet be defeated in Iraq, but the group’s terrorists are on the run, a senior official in the area said. “We’ve taken out a significant part of their leadership. We’ve gone after their foreign fighter facilitation network. We’ve gone after their financial networks. And … we also have gone after, very heavily, their propaganda network,” said Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, spokesman for Multi-National Force – Iraq, via telephone to a group of military analysts. As much as 80 percent of al-Qaida’s media structure has been destroyed, greatly hampering the group’s ability to spread propaganda, recruit and gain financing for its operations, Smith said. Reports in the country have shown a downward trend in violence against coalition forces, civilians and the Iraqi security forces, Smith said. He added that he remains cautiously optimistic, but he also warned of the lethality that still exists within al-Qaida’s network. “Those are good trends, and we are seeing some very good numbers. But … obviously we have a lot of work to do, as well,” Smith said. “(Al-Qaida is) still very much a threat.”

An apology would be appropriate. “I’m sorry. It appears the general may have has some clue of what was going on before his eyes.”