From this side of the Ocean, the Bush-McCain troop escalation in Iraq is having miraculous results that rank somewhere between the parting of the Red Sea and the transfiguration (if reducing the violence is the parting and convincing 90,000 Sunni insurgents to buy American promises is the transfiguration). Here's Mr. Bush in his latest "mission accomplished" moment, this time in a Pentagon speech on March 19: "The surge has done more than turn the situation in Iraq around -- it has opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror."

Not so fast, Sunnis are saying. Those 90,000 "concerned citizens" the escalation has seemingly turned to supporting the American effort aren't so happy after all, according to a video investigation by The Guardian. The paper interviewed 49 of the councils across the country that make up the "concerned citizens." It found widespread Sunni dissatisfaction and anger at American claims. Sunnis say they drove out al-Qaeda militants but American forces are taking the credit. Sunnis are promised $10 a day to fight alongside Americans. They claim they're not being paid. Now they're being abandoned.

The "concerned citizens" are staging strikes and planning a nationwide protest. If The Guardian's report is tapping into an authentic and deep strain of dissatisfaction, then it appears that the Americans have again repeated their customary blunder: mis-judging the locals, underestimating their grievances, taking them for granted, then letting them loose once they're no longer of any use to American strategy. The Iraq war is serial blowback from such short-sighted presumption. The Guardian's report suggests that another blowback is in the making. This one may unravel the "surge"'s claims.

See The Guardian's seven-minute video report in full.

See Also:

• Is the "Surge" Working?
• The Iraq War Five Years On: An Overview
• Why Is the United States in Iraq?
• Iraq War: Everything You Want (and Need) to Know
• Update: The Green Zone Under Attack