AND WHAT ABOUT THE IRAQIS? We know that General Petraeus feels downright rosy about the surge. But what about the people the surge was supposed to help, the citizens of Iraq? Via Think Progress, a new ABC/BBC poll reports that 65 to 70 percent of Iraqis believe U.S. troop escalations made them less safe, 79 percent oppose the occupation, and only 23 percent expect their country to be more stable in one year. Earlier this year, 40 percent of Iraqis were optimistic when they considered their lives a year in the future, and in 2005, 69 percent were. So we're clearly trending in the wrong direction. If only these "on the ground reports" were as valued as the ones from Bush appointees. --Dana Goldstein
