The San Francisco Chronicle, newspaper of the liberal elite from the West Coast capitol of the far left, is making some astonishing observations today regarding Iraq:

Is the troop surge in Iraq working?

If it is, the battleground at home could shift in ways unthinkable just two months ago: President Bush could be off the ropes and Republicans back on offense. The Democratic Congress and presidential candidates could lose their footing on their biggest issue. And U.S. troop commitments and war funding could be set on a higher, more permanent trajectory.

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There is no question that violence in Iraq has ebbed since the troop surge announced by Bush in January reached its full capacity in June with about 162,000 troops. Even Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House subcommittee that controls defense spending, a key ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and a leading Democratic opponent of the war, recently returned from Iraq saying, “I think the surge is working.”

Violence has receded to the levels of January 2006, before the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra set off a sectarian civil war between Shiites and Sunni. By many accounts, al Qaeda in Iraq has been hammered. Sunni tribes, many of them former insurgents, have turned against al Qaeda in Iraq in what is called the Sunni awakening.

Many former Sunni insurgents in western Iraq, and increasingly Shiite groups in the south, are allied with American forces in what the military euphemistically calls groups of “concerned local citizens” to control their neighborhoods and regions. Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has lain low, avoiding a confrontation with U.S. forces. Syria is tightening its border to foreign fighters, and Iran has pulled back. The U.S. military contends that Iraqi security forces are improved and now control substantial parts of the battlefield.

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If these trends continue, the United States could be hitting what he called the long-shot chance of reaching a classic cease-fire, and U.S. politicians of all stripes will have to resist the strong temptation to jeopardize this progress by reducing forces too soon and too fast.

The piece is riddled with quotes from die hard nay sayers who have been proven wrong on Iraq and the Surge, and professional hand wringers who think up scary scenarios. But the underlying theme (and the reality on the ground) is Iraq is stitching itself together and fighting our common enemy: al-Qaeda. There have been numerous efforts to reach out across sectarian divides that are working. Yeah, it is possible things could reverse, but it is not probable. The more Iraqis taste of peace and freedom the less likely they will be to allow chaos and horror to return. These ‘experts’ from the Chicken Little left are consistently wrong about Iraq. Which makes their current claims not scary but hopeful!

It is interesting to watch the ripples of the Anbar Awakening – which started the sea change in Iraq, finally wash over the far left and wake it from its delusions of Vietnam.