So who is right?  Nancy Pelosi says,

"Anchor Wolf Blitzer asked: “Are you not worried, though, that all the gains that have been achieved over the past year might be lost?”

“There haven't been gains, Wolf,” the speaker replied. “The gains have not produced the desired effect, which is the reconciliation of Iraq. This is a failure. This is a failure."

She goes on to laud the efforts of the troops, which tells me she's learned a hard lesson that says, "denigrate the troops at your own peril", but it seems al Qaeda is not in agreement with her;

"The US military released extracts from that letter yesterday along with a second seized in another November raid that is almost as startling.

That second document is a bitter 16-page testament written last October by a local al-Qaeda leader near Balad, north of Baghdad. “I am Abu-Tariq, emir of the al-Layin and al-Mashahdah sector,” the author begins. He goes on to describe how his force of 600 shrank to fewer than 20.

“We were mistreated, cheated and betrayed by some of our brothers,” he says. “Those people were nothing but hypocrites, liars and traitors and were waiting for the right moment to switch sides with whoever pays them most.”

Assuming the two documents are authentic — and the US military insists that they are — they provide a rare insight into an organisation thrown into turmoil by the rise of the Awakening movement. More than 80,000 Sunnis have joined the tribal groups of “concerned local citizens” [CLCs] that have helped to eject al-Qaeda from swaths of western and northern Iraq, including much of Baghdad."

So which is it, San Fran Nan?  Sure would love to see Dana Walsh beat her out of her seat!  Hey Rush, Sean, Levin, Beck, Dr. Bennett, et al, care to ask your audiences for donations for those candidates who can make a difference?  Care to see it happen?  Go for it, guys!  Laura, here's a chance to really make a difference!  The congress is the only hope we have with the current crop of presidential candidates.  Who else can reel them in?