Rep. David Obey: Violence Only Declining In Iraq Because Al Qaeda "Running out of people to kill"

Did he credit our troops? Only to the extent he credited them for apparently depopulating all of Iraq.

On the other hand, Steney Hoyer admits the surge is working and credits the troops:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told CNSNews.com yesterday that the troop surge is working – and claimed that had always said the Bush administration was deploying an insufficient number of troops in previous years. On Tuesday, the Defense Department announced that five more U.S. troops were killed in Iraq, bringing the total to 853 troops this year, the most troops killed during any one year of the war so far.

"Stability and a decrease in violence, they've done that - God bless them. I'm not surprised that they did," Hoyer told CNSNews.com (Hear audio in story) in response to a question about steadily declining U.S. casualty rates in Iraq. "I am not surprised, therefore, that when we send 20,000 additional troops and put them in an area of consequence that those 20,000 troops from the best army in the world, the best trained, best equipped army in the world brings a very heightened security," he said.

On the other other Beeblebroxian third hand, there's Pat Leahy:

Despite the steady decline of combat deaths over the last five months in Iraq, only one number mattered to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). "I heard that we had the highest number of casualties this year of any year," Leahy told CNSNews.com.

posted by Ace at 02:34 PM

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