C. D. Alston Day!

Happy C. D. Alston Day to all my readers, and Happy New Year to boot!

What, you may ask, is C. D. Alston Day? Why, it's the commemoration of this wonderful news, just one year ago today:

Washington -- Insurgents in Iraq are showing little capacity to keep up numerous and persistent attacks, a senior U.S. general in Baghdad says.

At a briefing December 29, Air Force Brigadier General C.D. Alston said there are three reasons for the diminishing capability of the insurgents to keep up attacks. The ability of insurgents to wage sustained combat is a key indicator closely watched by U.S. military forces to determine the enemy's effectiveness.

"The first is the joint offensive operations that have been launched by coalition forces and Iraqi security forces over the course of the last several months," said Alston, who is the director of strategic communications for the Multinational Force Iraq.

The security offensive has been focused on defeating terrorists and foreign fighters, and disrupting the insurgency, he said, with great effect.

The second reason, he said, is the progressive training and equipping of Iraqi security forces.

"They continue to grow, with phenomenal capabilities. Today, there are 223,000 trained and equipped members of the Iraqi security forces," Alston said during the briefing carried by a Pentagon teleconference from Baghdad.

He said the impact of the expanded security forces was most noticeable during the December 15 Council of Representatives elections.

Alston said the third factor that has contributed to the diminishing capacity of the insurgents has been the active participation in the political process by Sunni Iraqis.

Yes, how fondly we remember that day in 2005, when the inevitability of our victory in Iraq became clear!

"So increasingly powerful Iraqi security forces, with support from coalition forces, will continue focused operations to eliminate the terrorists and enable an environment in which freedom and democracy can prosper," he said.

The key for Iraq, he said, is the ability of its security forces -- civilian and military -- to provide for its national security.

Because of this improvement among Iraqi security forces, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said during recent appearances in Iraq that the United States would reduce the number of combat troops there by approximately 7,000 in 2006.

The United States has maintained a force of approximately 137,000 troops in Iraq, though that number has surged during elections to as much as 160,000 for brief periods.

In addition, he said the United States plans to reduce its forces in Afghanistan by 2,000 or 3,000 troops in early to mid-2006.

Any day now, barring some uncharacteristic outburst of wisdom, President Bush is likely going to announce an escalation in the US military presence in Iraq.

The chorus of voices across the political spectrum, the military opposition and the broad public disapproval will be no match for his stubborn egoism, and the Decider will decide. It will be insane, and completely out-of-touch with the reality on-the-ground, and it will be just the latest in a long line of such nonsensical statements. If we're lucky, though, this time people will notice, and maybe do something to stop it before too many more people get killed.