Iraq

I'm not looking to pick on anyone in particular, it's just that two of the lamest claims both appear in this column by Peter Brookes at RCP:

The U.S. military is having significant success securing the Syrian border - previously a sieve for Iraqi and foreign insurgents/terrorists seeping into Iraq. Result: It's tougher for Syria-based Sunni insurgents to orchestrate or support attacks in Iraq. Suicide bombings are down 30 percent since the October referendum.

While suicide bombings may be down, the number of U.S. casulities remains right around 3 a day. Which means that the insurgents are killing more efficiently then they were before, which I would take to be a bad thing. I'm sure they just remain in their "last throes."

And secondly, while stopping the flow of Syrians into Iraq is a good thing, U.S. military officials claimed that most of the insurgents are home grown Iraqis. And I was reasonably sure I had found more recent reports on this, but can't seem to locate it right now.

Moving on, more from Mr. Brookes:

The training of Iraqi security forces (e.g., police, military and intelligence) is increasingly effective and (finally!) making headway.

Whoops:

The training of Iraqi security forces has suffered a big "setback" in the last six months, with the army and other forces being increasingly used to settle scores and make other political gains, Iraqi Vice President Ghazi al-Yawer said Monday.

Al-Yawer disputed contentions by U.S. officials, including President Bush, that the training of security forces was gathering speed, resulting in more professional troops.

There's more at Brookes article that can be disputed, but those are the two main arguments that seem to lack ability to hold water. I'm sure there will be more on Iraq here in the months to come.