And they say there's no good news ever from Iraq. This Newsday article refutes not one, but three separate lines from critics of the administration's efforts.

First, take the carping ninnies who say that we haven't got the troops to do the job right. They point out that nine tenths of our combat troops are in rotation in and out of Iraq, and it's reached the point that we're "eating our seed corn" by deploying training divisions. Well, tosh. Things are good. Things are so good that, pace Newsday, we've turned down a plan of a Muslim peacekeeping force. Obviously, this must be because we don't need the help.

This article refutes two other carping critiques. People say that Bush is a puppet of the Saudis. But this was their offer, and Bush turned it down, because the U.S. would not have had command authority over the troops. People also say that the Allawi government is just a puppet of ours. Not so. In fact, pace Newsday:

At one point, the Saudis proposed that Muslim forces be placed under the command of the Iraqi government. That idea won over Allawi, but not the United States. "The Americans wanted ultimate control, and that made it impossible to make this work," said [an] Iraqi official.

If Allawi were just a puppet, what difference would it make? [ed: well, with a significant force of his own, as opposed to the ragtag Iraqi defense forces, he might be tempted to cut the strings. charlie: this is my blog. who the heck is this "ed" guy?]

(via Crooked Timber)