Regarding progress with the surge, the recent U.S. News & World Report offers, "early indications are far from encouraging." In addition, "the Pentagon reports that overall violence levels nationwide remain as high as ever. Indeed, even as U.S. troops boost their presence in some Baghdad neighborhoods, many insurgents appear to have simply moved to outlying provinces that now have a much thinner security presence."

It's like the arcade game whack-a-mole. They just reappear somewhere else, only to then move back from whence they came. An exercise in futility with the end result being U.S. soldier fatalities. Madness.