The Success Of The Surge

As previously noted here (IIRC), the surge is deemed a success for succeeding in bringing the Afghanistan plan to Iraq: pretty much secure the capital, and forget the rest of the country. And, as we noted, the Times had a nice big front page story about the success in bringing some sort of peace to the Iraqi capital.

Except apparently, the insurgents must have neglected to read the Times article to learn how they've been whupped.

Via RawStory:

Violence has dipped in Iraq since 'the Surge' began earlier this year, but as New York Times video journalists Stephen Farrel and Diana Oliva Cave document, chaos can erupt at any moment.

The two visited a centuries-old exotic pet market in Baghdad where life seemed to be returning to normal. "Families are venturing back, with the violence down," said one Iraqi merchant, "for the first time in a long time."

But fast-forward to that same market one week later. This time, shoppers and sellers are reeling from the detonation of a bomb that had been concealed in a box used for transporting birds.

"Last week, nothing happened. And for weeks before that, nothing happened," said an Iraqi. "Then, they let the people feel safe ... when they see the families start to come out, they used this opportunity."

The blast, which killed 13 people, was the third on this market in just 18 months. Citizens now feel unprotected. "There is no security," another Iraqi merchant says. "There is no searching. They should put two or three police patrols inside the market to search boxes."