Look, no one is doubting Petraeus' skill as a general. Seems to be the best guy we've got. He's the man. He's Zeus. We all agree. And maybe things would be much better now if he'd been in charge from the start. But if we need to suspend troop withdrawals because the surge strategy is working, as John McCain would have us believe, why did violence spike the instant Sadr dropped his ceasefire pledge, then relax when he told his fighters to stand down, then jump up again after that broke down, etc?
Let's face it: the amount of violence is more dependent on the Sadr ceasefire, as well as the agreement we've got with the Sunni tribes (who we're paying off), than it is on our surge-tastic troop levels.
(Insert mandatory statement about how our troops are the best in the world and how this isn't to take anything away from the job they're doing here.)