An American military leader in Iraq (full story can be found here) says:
Major General Rick Lynch, commander of coalition forces in central Iraq, said the addition of thousands more 'surge' troops in recent weeks had enabled him to clear 70 percent of his territory south of Baghdad of insurgents. 'Those surge forces have given us the capability that we have now to take the fight to the enemy,' he told Pentagon reporters via satellite from Baghdad. 'If those surge forces go away, that capability goes away and the Iraqi security forces aren't ready yet to do that,' Lynch said. In the troops' absence, insurgents would regain ground and be free to carry out roadside-bomb attacks in Baghdad, 'and the violence would escalate.'
'It would be a mess,' the commander said, days before a new debate over withdrawing troops is to start in the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Other interesting stuff on this topic can be found as always here.
