Now that the surge appears to be having its desired affect, I was beginning to wonder how long it would take for the Democrats to start claiming victory in Iraq. Evidently, not long:
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said on Tuesday that the troop surge, which began in June, has had a significant impact on the situation in Iraq and noted that he had always been critical of the Bush administration for deploying an insufficient number of troops in previous years.(via)
"Stability and a decrease in violence, they've done that - God bless them. I'm not surprised that they did," Hoyer told Cybercast News Service in response to a question about steadily declining U.S. casualty rates in Iraq.
[...]
"I am not surprised, therefore, that when we send 20,000 additional troops and put them in an area of consequence that those 20,000 troops from the best army in the world, the best trained, best equipped army in the world brings a very heightened security," he said.
Yes, he always knew the surge would work and maybe he did. I'm just waiting for Reid to say this (technically he was for the surge before Bush proposed it :-)
Here's the audio.
(via)
