Christmas 2006 was a time of great joy for Democrats. They had just won control of both houses of Congress, and the war they reviled appeared to be an unmanageable mess.

The sugarplums that danced in their heads were images of the withdrawal many of them had preached since our troops’ first footfalls in the desolate moonscapes of Iraq. Surely 2007 would be the year that finally unwrapped the gift of cut and run that Senate leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had worked for all year.

But then, a clatter arose. More rapid than eagles, it descended over the Iraqi war theater, bringing relief to some, heartburn to others, but curiosity to most.

It was the surge.

The Bush administration argument was that increasing troop levels by less than 20 percent would somehow bring about some magical change in the war’s fate.

My hopes were high, but so was my skepticism. I was one of those crazy people who had viewed the transformation of Iraq as an order so tall that it merited as many as a half-million troops.

We will never know if that would have brought stability sooner, but as 2007 winds to a close, we know this: The surge has worked, and that is a steaming lump of coal in the stockings of everyone who spent the year trying to pull the rug out from under the brave men and women who made it work.

Their success has come not because of the sheer force of the relatively small additional troop levels, but rather the strategy used to deploy them.

For years, the war plan involved bringing safety to dangerous Iraqi neighborhoods with a strong show of force. Tanks and Humvees brimming with troops would patrol streets peppered with insurgents and IEDs. Those streets would grow quieter during the patrols, but then the troops would go back to the massive bases where they slept, and the insurgency would reclaim its stranglehold.

The cities of Iraq remained dangerous, but Washington was cozy and safe for war-bashers – not all of them Democrats – to poison the war effort with talk of quagmires and futility.

Then along came the anti-war movement’s Grinch, dressed in the green of the U.S. Army, wearing the stripes of commanding general of the Multi-National Force in Iraq.

Gen. David Petraeus sent troops into Iraq’s toughest regions – to live there. And he sent Iraqi security forces with them. This brought more stability to more square miles of Iraq and gave the Iraqi forces a boost toward the competence they must display to one day keep their own country safe.

In meeting their enormous challenge, Gen. Petraeus and those under his command have, in turn, created a huge obstacle not just for al-Qaeda, but for those who have hindered the war effort here at home.

In the halls of Congress and the ivory towers of so-called mainstream media, the headache of 2007 has been: How do you attack and dismantle a war that is actually going better?

In Congress, there were literally dozens of attempts to wrest control of the war from the hands of a president who still wants to win it. They failed at every turn, as President Bush finished the year with 70 Senate votes for additional war funding with no strings attached.

In headlines and newscasts, the obvious measure of an improving war was the disappearance of war stories from front pages and TV scripts. When the war was at its worst, the dominant media culture showered us with details of every horrible week for U.S. troops. Once those troops saw objective success, those stories found their way onto back pages, if they saw the light of day at all.

My wish for 2008 is that the noble work of Gen. Petraeus and the forces under him continue to muzzle those who would add to their burden with calls for surrender.

Those of us who believe in what America is trying to do in Iraq have been given a great gift this Christmas season. I would hope our nation could unify in the new year and show our gratitude by letting them enjoy further success unfettered by the ill will and sharp tongues of those who have not yet seen fit to support them.

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