Commanders say surge is a failure.

Three months after the start of the Baghdad security plan that has added thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital, they control fewer than one-third of the city’s neighborhoods, far short of the initial goal for the operation, according to some commanders and an internal military assessment.

The American assessment, completed in late May, found that American and Iraqi forces were able to “protect the population” and “maintain physical influence over” only 146 of the 457 Baghdad neighborhoods.

In the remaining 311 neighborhoods, troops have either not begun operations aimed at rooting out insurgents or still face “resistance,” according to the one-page assessment, which was provided to The New York Times and summarized reports from brigade and battalion commanders in Baghdad.

When I read information like this my first concern is how will the Bush administration twist these facts to make them tell a different story? I have no idea how they would massage facts that we have already seen reported in various news outlets. But I know from past experience that "facts" don't really matter to this administration.

I have heard a rumor that General Petraeus may just call this thing a victory and then suggest troop withdrawals.

Hell I don't care if he calls it a duck, just as long as he starts bringing our troops home.