Jack,

Sorry it has taken me so long to e-mail. Been busy.

Things are going well here. Gen. Petraeus is correct. The surge is working, no matter what the liberal media says. I know it is. I see the results. Iraqi citizens are turning on Al Qaeda in more and more areas every day. The concerned citizens program is paying off big time. Lots of good news that often does not get reported, of course.

Still though, there is a lot of work to do. I believe that getting AQ out of Iraq will go a long way toward the end state of having the Iraqi government provide security for their own country. After that is accomplished, it is only a matter of time before the sectarian violence diminishes.

You know, the problem now, in my humble opinion is that all the different groups have seen “victory” as their own end state. Everyone wants “peace,” but still they have been using “victory” as a means to get to “peace.” That is changing. The local Shieks have begun to take steps to establish peace in their own neighborhoods. It is working. I would not be surprised to see many areas of Iraq clean up their own AOs much like the Kurds in the north have done.

Bottom line – local guys are cleaning their own house.

The wild card remains what the Iraqi national government will do. Who knows. We cannot count on our own congress to be a role model, so I don’t think there is any reasonable expectation for Jeffersonian Democracy to break out in the Iraqi national gov’t.

It won’t matter if the locals can just keep peace in their own neighborhoods. Kind of like a “trickle-up” effect.

That’s my ramblings for today.