JEFFREY: Salutes for the surge

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COMMENTARY:

Page 12 of a Government Accountability Office report published June 23 features data about the war in Iraq - drawn from the Defense Intelligence Agency - that must be central to the debate about what the United States does next in that country.

It indicates we have started to win a war we cannot afford to lose.

The GAO report is titled, "Securing, Stabilizing and Rebuilding Iraq; Progress Report: Some Gains Made, Updated Strategy Needed." The key DIA data is presented as a chart, titled "Enemy Initiated Attacks by Month, May 2003 to May 2008."

The chart itself is comprised of color-coded vertical bars that illustrate the overall number of enemy attacks in Iraq in each month from May 2003 to May 2008. Part of each bar is colored dark gray to represent the number of attacks on coalition forces, part is colored light gray to represent attacks on civilians, and part is white to represent attacks on Iraqi security forces.

The first fact the chart reveals: We are now almost two years past the point where overall enemy attacks in Iraq (the combined number of attacks against civilians, Iraqi forces and coalition forces) peaked.

The second fact the chart reveals: The peak in overall enemy attacks was reached in October 2006 - the month leading up to the 2006 U.S. congressional elections.

The third fact the chart reveals: Attacks against coalition forces (not counting those against Iraqi civilians and Iraqi forces) continued to rise after the overall number of attacks peaked, reaching their own peak in June 2007 - the month the U.S. troop surge went full-force.

The fourth fact the chart reveals: Since the troop surge went full-force in June 2007, enemy attacks in Iraq have dropped dramatically.

"[T]he overall levels of violence in Iraq - as measured by enemy-initiated attacks - decreased about 70 percent from June 2007 to February 2008," says the GAO report, "a significant reduction from the high levels of violence in 2006 and the first half of 2007."