John Murtha is forced by reality to concede he was wrong about the surge.

Now if he will only admit he tried to railroad the Haditha marines for political purposes.

U.S. Rep. John Murtha today said he saw signs of military progress during a brief trip to Iraq last week, but he warned that Iraqis need to play a larger role in providing their own security and the Bush administration still must develop an exit strategy.

"I think the 'surge' is working," the Democrat said in a videoconference from his Johnstown office, describing the president's decision to commit more than 20,000 additional combat troops this year. But the Iraqis "have got to take care of themselves."

Violence has dropped significantly in recent months, but Mr. Murtha said he was most encouraged by changes in the once-volatile Anbar province, where locals have started working closely with U.S. forces to isolate insurgents linked to Al Qaeda.

He said Iraqis need to duplicate that success at the national level, but the central government in Baghdad is "dysfunctional."

In other words, he is saying what those of us in the conservative blogosphere have been saying for months. And while I agree with him tha there is more to be done by the Iraqi government, I think he's wrong on one point. That government is no more dysfunctional than the accomplishment-free Democrat-controlled Congress we have in this country.