Not So Fast, McFibber

Sen. St. John McFibber likes to go on about how he was "right" about the surge - - nevermind his support of the disastrous decision to shift our focus from al Qaeda in Afghanistan/Pakistan, to toppling Bush family nemesis Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Journalist Bob Woodward's new book sheds light on not only the internal debate between top military officers and hardcore neocons in the White House, but also on the fact that the increase in U.S. forces played perhaps the least significant role in bringing violence down primarily in Baghdad. Special operations' targeting of key al Qaeda and insurgent officials, the turning of Sunni tribes in Anbar province against al Qaeda, and Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army cease fire are viewed as even more significant than the effect of additional combat brigades.