Andy made a presentation at a recent conference I attended and, as usual, was very persuasive.

When commentators, in any forum but particularly in the media and in politics, talk about "the surge" they do disservice to the COIN operation now being executed in Iraq. It's not about the numbers, it's about winning the COIN fight over time. By focusing on the numbers, detractors develop a target that can be exploited in public opinion. That allows them to duck the bigger COIN issues that they will never grasp. Unfortunately, as Andy points out, there are major issues over which we have limited control, the biggest being the the competency and commitment of the central government in Baghdad.