The Surge worked. Get over it.

As a junior officer in the U.S. Army, Andrew Exum began blogging under the nom du web of Abu Muqawama, and he continues now that he’s an analyst at the Center for a New American Security. Mr. Exum is hardly on the same page as James Taranto, whom I also read every day—Andrew in the morning, James at happy hour—so I am always pleased when his perception matches mine. Here he is on the subject of The Surge:

"Ever since my friend and mentor Tom Ricks concluded at the end of his book The Gamble that the Surge succeeded tactically but failed strategically, it has been safe among others to say that the Surge -- for all the heroics of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps -- failed. Andrew Sullivan and Tom write this regularly on their blogs, and because they are serious people, others parrot what they say. At some point, though, evidence gets in the way of their conclusion."

Indeed it does—unless, as Andrew wryly remarks, you keep moving the goalposts. So here’s a tip of the virtual hat to the American servicemen who made it possible, and to the American president who had the wisdom to change his strategy and the courage to double down on his investment in Iraq. The Surge worked. Get over it. (Tom Ricks, by the way, is another blogger that I check more or less daily. I was impressed by his book, though skeptical of its conclusion, as I pointed out in my review for the Weekly Standard.) Blue skies! – Dan Ford