- Al-Qaida Baghdad has sounded retreat (as suggested by Omar at Iraq the Model the day after Bush's surge speech).
al Masri's evacuation order said that remaining in Baghdad is a no-win situation for al Qaida, because the Fallujah campaign demonstrating the Americans have learned how to prevail in house to house fighting, Mr. Miniter said."In more than 10 years of reading al Qaida intercepts, I've never seen (pessimistic)language like this," he quoted his intelligence officer source as saying.
- al-Sadr has shut up, lowered his profile, and called off the boycott of the Iraqi Congress. "Mookie," as the troops call him, can only be relied upon to behave when he is terrified.
- Maliki is getting tough on the Mahdi militia. Finally.
More from the cautious optimism dept: we can definitely still win in Iraq.