Sign of progress in Iraq for $200, Alex?

Raw Story:

"Every day there are signs of progress on the battlefields of Iraq," opens anchor Jamie Colby. "New signs since the start of the troop surge began back in June. So, the debate shaping up in Washington now is, what are the next steps on this road to success?"

Congressman Phil Gingrey (R), Housed Armed Services Committee member, and Congressman Ron Klein (D), House Foreign Affairs Committee member, square off.

On measuring the "substantial success," as reiterated by Colby, Gingrey says the success is in "every sector," citing a reduction in IED explosions and attacks on Iraqi security forces and US troops.

"The new way forward, the surge, is absolutely working," says Gingrey. "These 30,000 additional troops have made a tremendous difference."

Democrats, continues Gingrey, are in a dilemma after having "bet the whole farm on bad news," given a perceived misjudgment on the "winds of public opinion."

Iraqis are feeling safer, says Colby to Rep. Klein. Asks Colby, why are the Democrats focusing on the political aspects instead of military successes?

Klein laments that the Iraqi government, regardless of any advances achieved militarily, has failed to deliver things like electricity to Iraqis, not even with revenues generated from $100-a-barrel oil.

Says Rep. Klein, "All these various underlying things: Education, jobs; things that make life better for people, are not happening."

Asks Colby to Gingrey, what will it take to satisfy the Democrats, if not a government and an election?

Oil revenues are being shared with the Shiites, the Sunnis and the Kurds, insists Rep. Gingrey, and he hails results of actions taken "from the ground up," with the help of the Sunnis.
"Our military is doing its job magnificently," insists Rep. Klein. "The underlying issues are not happening, and that's the problem."

"What do people care about?" asks Klein. "They care about their jobs, they care about their security--about going to a hospital. Americans have spent billions of dollars, and if President Bush wants to continue a ten-year war at a cost of a trillion-and-a-half dollars, I'm not sure that's where we want to be."