How's The "Surge" Going?

By focusing on Baghdad -- a necessarily limited and thus supposedly manageable area of operations -- the "surge" is making good progress according to some American politicians.

Folks on the ground may disagree.

A devastating series of bombings in a crowded market in a Shi'ite Muslim neighborhood of Baghdad and in a predominantly Shi'ite town north of the capital killed more than 130 Iraqis yesterday, the same day a new US envoy asserted at his swearing-in that the American mission in Iraq was not an impossible one.

The bombings, part of a pattern of attacks in predominantly Shi'ite areas, threatened to inflame sectarian tensions that are at boiling point across much of Iraq. American officials believe the attacks are part of a systematic effort by Al Qaeda militants to foment violence by Shi'ite militias and scuttle the latest US security effort. ...

The fresh round of bloodletting underscored the enormous difficulty of the task being taken up by Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, a career diplomat who had once warned that the US invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein could set off spiraling strife between Iraq's Sunnis and majority Shi'ites.

Crocker, 57, told an audience, mainly workers at the embassy where the ceremony was held, that security is the central issue in Iraq.

"Terrorists, insurgents, and militias continue to threaten security in Baghdad and around the country," said the diplomat. Fulfilling US goals in Iraq would be hard, he said, but: "If I thought it was impossible, I would not be standing here today.