WobLog

The latest "meme" about the Iraq War is we're not fighting an insurgency, we're stuck in the middle of a civil war. The story changed because the Iraqi army and the U.S. forces are making real progress against the insurgency. The critics had to find a new angle. David Ignatius reports in Friday's Washington Post that the good guys are gaining the upper hand by fighting smarter and by using the "three P's" of the Iraq battlefield: "be polite," "be professional," and "be prepared to kill."

A brutal stress test came on Feb. 22, when Sunni insurgents destroyed a revered Shiite mosque in Samarra. For a moment, Iraq seemed to be slipping toward civil war, but the Iraqi army performed surprisingly well. In many areas Iraqi forces -- backed up by overwhelming U.S. firepower -- helped restore order. "You never know the tipping point until you're past it," says Gen. George Casey, the commander of American forces here. With many other U.S. and Iraqi officials, he hopes Samarra may have been such a tipping point, for the better.

So, the civil war that was supposed to erupt after the Samarra mosque bombing didn't happen because the "new" approach to the insurgency kept the violence in check. When did this "new" approach begin? About 18 - 24 months ago when the U.S. revamped its training program for the Iraqi army. Why haven't we heard about it before? We have. Every day for the last year and a half from the President, the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the commanders on the ground in Iraq. We just didn't listen.