Nancy Pelosi yesterday said several times that the surge strategy in Iraq has been "a failure," ignoring the blatant facts that violence is down and political reconciliation is occurring. 

“There haven't been gains, Wolf,” the speaker replied. “The gains have not produced the desired effect, which is the reconciliation of Iraq. This is a failure. This is a failure.

Maybe the Speaker simply isn't aware of the incredible drop in the number of civilian and military casualties since the surge began in earnest late last spring.  Perhaps no one told her that political process is being made; the legislature passed a major de-Baathification bill last month - long seen as a necessary step toward reconciliation.  But more likely, the Speaker is once again trying to make a political point by ignoring the facts that seem so obvious to the rest of us.

No one knows the successes of the surge more than al Qaeda.  In letters recovered by the U.S. military, leaders of the terrorist organization admit that "We are in crisis. There is panic and fear." 

From an al Qaeda member in the Anbar province: "The Americans and the apostates launched their campaigns against us and we found ourselves in a circle not being able to move, organize or conduct our operations.”

The Wall Street Journal admonishes liberals in Congress over attempts to block FISA legislation renewal.  The Journal argues, and U.S. Appellate Courts agree, that the President has the authority to conduct this type of surveillance under the Constitution - but the President has attempted to work with Congress to develop a solution both parties can be happy with.  Originally there was bipartisan cooperation on the issue, but as the far-left has balked at the deal, Democrats in Congress have withdrawn their support.

Which brings us to the larger problem with this entire exercise. Congress's overriding goal here is to further hamstring our intelligence war-fighters with legal rigidity and complexity, but to do so in a way that dodges its own oversight duties by passing the buck to FISA judges. White House lawyers know this is unconstitutional, but intelligence officials say it's more important to have Congress's blessing for these wiretaps. And because the telecom companies won't cooperate without immunity, Mr. Bush is being bullied into trading away some of his own power to get that immunity.

Mr. Bush would do better by future Presidents if he opposed the Wyden amendment, and any further concessions would amount to an abdication as Commander in Chief. He has the political high ground on this issue. If Congress does more harm, he should declare that to protect the country he'll use his Constitutional war powers to wiretap al Qaeda anyway and toss the issue squarely in the middle of the Presidential campaign.