House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared again on CNN's "Late Edition" program Sunday that the troop surge in Iraq is a failure. Ms. Pelosi's timing was unfortunate for what shreds remain of her credibility. Her statement coincided with the release by U.S. forces in Iraq Saturday of the diary of Abu Tariq, an al Qaida leader around the northern city of Balad. The diary was captured in a raid in November. It apparently had been written the month before.
Abu Tariq once had nearly 600 fighters under his command, but his force has dwindled to no more than 20. The chief reason for this, he wrote, was the decision of most Sunni tribes to throw in with the Americans.