Pullout? What Pullout?

Eight months after President Bush ordered a "surge" of 30,000 troops into Iraq to stem the imminent threat of an all-out civil war, could the ploy finally be working?

Saturday, Reuters.com reported that US troop levels are expected to fall by 5,000 next month, as Gen. David Patraeus begins to implement plans to withdraw some 20,000 troops by July 2008. There are currently 162,000 troops in Iraq.

While this pullout is slower than many liberals would like see, it still appeases most Americans, who have been critical of the president in recent polls over the amount of troops still serving in Iraq, nearly five years after the war began.

The Reuters story is compelling because it is one of the few stories I've seen recently that have actually given lukewarm credit to the Bush administration for its committment to reducing the number of soldiers in Iraq.

Believe it or not, there are positive developments in Iraq, which have gone largely un-reported by media outlets other than FOX News. One of those stories is the steady decline in the number of monthly US casualties since May. October's total? 28.

The best part? More and more Iraqis are signing up to take back control of their country -- which was the whole idea of the surge in the first place.

It shouldn't be a surprise to conservatives that they're not seeing these stories. After all, the media hasn't always been forthcoming with figures that didn't stir up sympathy for liberal sentiments. Ending the war in Iraq prematurely would certainly qualify as one of those. Unfortunately, it would also appease the likes of Osama bin Laden.