The event itself is significant because it looks like the U.S. is making some breakthrough in terms of establishing consensus with the Sunni population

Here's another quote from Al Sadr:

"To our Iraqi Sunni brothers, I say that the occupation sows dissension among us and that strength is unity and division is weakness," he said. "I'm ready to cooperate with them in all fields."

The toll from the booby-trap devices rose from 35% of all American fatalities in January to 80% last month, despite an outlay of more than £2.5bn on countermeasures since 2003.

Now commanders are questioning the effectiveness of spending huge sums on electronic jammers, extra vehicle armour and research teams while their soldiers continue to die in ever larger numbers.

A total of 127 died in May, the third worst total for US forces since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The previous most lethal months were April and November, 2004, when 135 and 137 soldiers died in large-scale offensives in Falluja.

One officer told the Herald: "The instinctive US response is always to look for a technological solution. The only things which will solve this are better intelligence targeting the guys who design and lay the bombs and winning the support of the locals to undermine the insurgents' power base."

The Pentagon, which admits that "improvised explosive devices" - IEDs - are its single biggest problem, said it intended to spend another £2bn this year to fund experimental countermeasures.
...
Rescue missions by road and helicopter to bomb attack sites are themselves coming under carefully-planned attacks.

The tactics mimic those used by the IRA against British troops in Northern Ireland, where a second booby-trap was often laid after a first had gone off to catch troops sealing off the area in what became known as a "come-on" ambush.

The President's New Iraq Strategy Is Rooted In Six Fundamental Elements:
Let the Iraqis lead;

Q Secretary Gates, how long do you expect to maintain the surge in Iraq? And what happens if the Iraqis do not live up to their commitments?

SECRETARY GATES: Well, as I indicated, we're going to know pretty early on whether the Iraqis are meeting their military commitments [...]
I think that what we will see over time is a lessening of violence in Baghdad. If this strategy is successful, over time we will see a lessening of violence in Baghdad.
[...]
It's going to take a little time, and we will probably have a better view a couple of months from now in terms of whether we are making headway in terms of getting better control of Baghdad, with the Iraqis in the lead and with the Iraqis beginning to make better progress on the reconciliation process.

Q My other question is, yesterday Major General Bill Caldwell, who is the spokesman for the multinational force, said on the record that the surge of 21,000 troops into the Baghdad area won't be complete until the end of May, and that Congress and the American people can be expected to measure the success or failure of the mission by then.

Iraqi Troops' Short Baghdad Tours Faulted
But Some Experts Say Quicker Pace Enhances Training

As the U.S. military sends more troops into Baghdad for stays of 15 months or longer, some Iraqi army soldiers participating in the same counterinsurgency operation are serving under a rotation schedule officially lasting just three months, according to senior officers at the Pentagon and Multi-National Force-Iraq.

Summary:
The iraqis aren't stepping up or leading.

The violence has worsened in exactly the original time frame to see whether the surge was working.

There are more civilian deaths.

the last surge troops are just now arriving;

most of the surge troops are not in Baghdad--only 9,000 of what I believe was officially increased to about 30,000 (from 21,500);

the surge was not intended to only help Baghdad;

there are reports of a second surge, which is significantly increasing the number of combat troops, as opposed to support troops (note how few combat troops are actually in Iraq): "The little-noticed second surge, designed to reinforce U.S. troops in Iraq, is being executed by sending more combat brigades and extending tours of duty for troops already there. The actions could boost the number of combat soldiers from 52,500 in early January to as many as 98,000 by the end of this year if the Pentagon overlaps arriving and departing combat brigades." SF Chronicle, 5/22.

quotes from the same NY Times article:

"Violence has diminished in many areas, but it is especially chronic in mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhoods in western Baghdad,"

"We were way too optimistic," said the officer, adding that September is now the goal for establishing basic security in most neighborhoods, the same month that Bush administration officials have said they plan to review the progress of the plan. Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the senior American ground commander in Iraq, said in a brief interview that he never believed that a midsummer timetable for establishing security in Baghdad was realistic."

From a Yahoo article on Saturday:

1. "U.S. and Iraqi officials have claimed recent success in the effort to isolate al-Qaida, particularly in the western Anbar province, where many Sunni tribes have banded together to fight the terror network.

A growing number of Sunni tribes have reportedly been turning against al-Qaida elsewhere as well, repelled by the terror network's sheer brutality and austere religious extremism.

The extremists also are competing with nationalist groups for influence and control over diminishing territory in the face of U.S. assaults, a situation exacerbated by the influx of Sunni fighters to areas outside the capital as they flee a nearly 4-month-old security crackdown."

2. "I think this is happening because of al-Qaida's brutality," said Ehsan Ahrari, professor and specialist in counterterrorism at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. "They have been hurting the Sunni population in Iraq and that is coming back to hurt al-Qaida."

That is one take on the surge.

There are several other from biased and non biased sources.

Positive

Moderate

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the United States is dealing with a "smart, agile, thinking enemy" in Iraq that's technologically sophisticated and understands what's happening in the United States. That includes debate about Iraq.

As a result, Gates said, it's likely that these forces will increase their violence during the summer months, before Multinational Force Iraq Commander Army Gen. David H. Petraeus issues an assessment in September.

"I think we should be prepared for them to make a very strong effort to increase the level of violence in July and August," the secretary said. "My hope is that anticipating it will allow us to thwart it."

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agreed that experience shows the enemy is likely to seize on the opportunity to influence its outcome. "From an enemy standpoint, attacking as best they can in July and August would make sense from their standpoint," he said.

As a result, he said, it's important for U.S. and coalition troops to be prepared. "We need to be prepared for that additional effort on their part, to defeat it and to turn it back," he said.

Gates acknowledged that al Qaeda has had a big effect on the current picture in Iraq. "This situation would look very different if it weren't for al Qaeda," he said.

"I think if we do the right things politically and economically with the right Iraqi leadership we could still salvage at least a stalemate, if you will -- not a stalemate but at least stave off defeat," Sanchez told the San Antonio Express-News. "It's also kind of important for us to answer the question, `What is victory?', and at this point I'm not sure America really knows what victory is." [...]

"I am absolutely convinced that America has a crisis in leadership at this time ....."

think progress

If we do the right things????? is a very, very,  big if.

I think I'm going to have to start advocating the conservative viewpoint around here because they actually have some valid points and concerns, but Jim does such a abysmal job of advocating them that they don't get the due consideration and discussion that they occasionally deserve.