The 'surge' may be working and someone will have to give.

We'll the first "surge" statistics are in and according to ABC News International it's been the first month in the Iraq conflict where US troop casualties have exceeded those of Iraqi troops. The good news is that the civilian death toll is reported to be down significantly on December so perhaps the Petraeus strategy is working but the question remains will it work fast enough.

As I've mentioned in the past, the new model will mean that U.S. troops are far more exposed due to their being embedded with the population and that kind of stress is going to take it's toll PDQ as the troops will have to be switched on 24/7.

I pray that this continues to work--obviously without anymore US casualties.

Politically, this puts Congress between a rock and a hard place because if the plan is actually reducing civilian deaths but increasing troop exposure in the process then Bush is in a position to strengthen his argument that the plan is working and that Congress should just hand over the money-sans strings.

I wish they could find some middle ground but now with these figures coming in it doesn't look like Bush will be backing down in which case Congress is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Someone will have to give.