Surges...

Syria has so far accepted (at least) 1.5 million Iraqi refugees. Beginning today, that country is placing limits on the number and type of future refugees it will accept....

This isn't surprising, but it's not good news for the more than 2 million Iraqis who have fled their country or for the 2.2 million more who are "displaced internally" and may soon join those fleeing the country in search of safety. (Figures from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.)

Those figures are not disputed, they're simply ignored by the current American debate over whether or not the so-called "surge" is "working" (whatever that means). The fact that one out of every six Iraqis has fled their home seems like it ought to be relevant to any discussion of the "security situation" in that country, but it has apparently been decided that the opinions of these 4.2 million Iraqis -- voting with their feet and their whole lives -- should not be given quite as much weight in this discussion as the opinion of the very serious Michael O'Hanlon or the other York Hardings who, after all, have visited Iraq several times....

As I write this, Gen. David Petraeus is testifying before Congress that, "The military objectives of the surge are in large measure being met." None of the 2 million Iraqis who have already fled nor any of the 50,000 additional refugees leaving that country every month has been asked to offer their testimony about all of the progress the general is describing...{the rest}

[via slacktivist]