This past week Bill Maher mentioned the big secret about the success of the surge in Iraq: we're bribing the insurgents to behave. So the "surge" is really about the surge in payola or play-nice money. Who knew the solution was more along the lines of The Sopranos, receive $$ in envelope = fewer deaths?

However, is the U.S. military in the business of paying bribes to the enemy? How far must pragmatism go vs. principle? And what happens when we stop paying (or maybe we never do)? Is this really a success?