How do we know 'the surge is working'?

[Prefer]

And that it is not just things getting better on their own?

Why not say "the benchmarks worked"?

Or better yet - "God made it so".

Each one is equally nebulous.

[islandmkl]

1. because they say it is so....

[zanne]

2. The "surge is working" as long as the surge troops remain.

It was supposed to be temporary.

[LostInAnomie]

3. Because that's what "People are saying..."

And, you can't argue with what "People are saying..."

[KansDem]

8. On FOX, it would be "Some say..."

Like, "Some say the surge is working. How do you respond to that statement?"

[tekisui]

4. 220 Dead US Soldiers in 2008 so far.

Over $70 Billion spent on the Occupation and 220 Dead US service men and women.

Where is the success?

[polichick]

5. Republicans are trying to save face. Period.

[Hydra]

6. The Surge isn't working

The Shiite Militias opted not to screw around for a bit. As soon as we whack that hornet's nest, you'll never know that any progress was made.

"Violence is down!!"

"That's because the opposing team is on vacation!"

[Selatius]

7. People are citing the lower rate at which US soldiers are getting killed as the prime example.

They equate the lower number of deaths with more security on the streets. It's a simple formula, but it's a bit more complex than that, as life usually is.

In and around Baghdad, the fatalities are down largely, as Michael Ware of CNN has said, because the city has basically already been ethnically cleansed. There are few Sunni enclaves left inside the city, and most Sunnis fled into the countryside to get away from the Shia militiamen. A whole swath of the Iraqi Interior Ministry forces are nothing but Shia Badr Brigade militiamen as well as militiamen from other Shia groups.

As far as Al Anbar goes, the Sunni Sheiks turned against Al Qaeda in Iraq because they routinely target civilians with their car bombs and suicide bombers, or they continually kill large numbers of civilians going after targets that they do want to see destroyed, such as American soldiers, but that doesn't mean that the Sunni Sheiks are now pro-American. They simply see the US as the lesser of two evils they want eliminated from their land, but first they want to eliminate Al Qaeda before turning on the US when Al Qaeda no longer is relevant.

[zbdent]

9. Gee, I would love to be bribed ...

I'll take a hundred bucks a month to keep me from killing people ...

[ColbertWatcher]

10. The surge's got electrolytes. n/t