Spin as you will, the long term prospects in Iraq are positive, assuming the United States stays with the war. Today, U.S. and Iraqi forces killed three al Qaeda operates and captured 80 others in the Diyala region--some of them in leadership positions--and captured another 12 in Salah al Din.
These are big numbers. Imagine if al Qaeda had captured a third that many Americans! What a fuss there would be.
The war really has turned around, though the crucial change is not what is happening in Iraq (important though it is), but in American public opinion. It finally has dawned on elites as well as ordinary people 1) that we cannot just leave; and 2) that we can win.
The President is about to put that into perspective in his broadcast address.