From the Times of London…

“Al-Qaeda Leaders Admit: ‘We are in Crisis. There is Panic and Fear’ — Al-Qaeda in Iraq faces an ‘extraordinary crisis.’ Last year’s mass defection of ordinary Sunnis from Al-Qaeda to the US military ‘created panic, fear and the unwillingness to fight’. The terrorist group’s security structure suffered ‘total collapse.’ These are the words not of Al-Qaeda’s enemies but of one of its own leaders in Anbar province — once the group’s stronghold. They were set down last summer in a 39-page letter seized during a US raid on an Al-Qaeda base near Samarra in November. The US military released extracts from that letter yesterday along with a second seized [letter] in another November raid that is almost as startling. … US intelligence officials cautioned, however, that the documents were snapshots of two small areas and that Al-Qaeda was far from a spent force.”

Now, the story does mention here on page two…

“The Anbar letter conceded that the ‘crusaders’ — Americans — had gained the upper hand by persuading ordinary Sunnis that Al-Qaeda was responsible for their suffering and by exploiting their poverty to entice them into the security forces.”

So the point of the story is: Hey, the Iraqis didn’t get to this conclusion all by themselves. They had to be talked into it by the Americans, and that isn’t fair in a time of war. The Americans talked the Sunnis out of being with Al-Qaeda in Iraq! So whenever there’s good news, it has to be sprinkled and peppered with pessimism.

At the same time, Nancy Pelosi has called Iraq a failure. She said twice Sunday–

‘Iraq is a failure,‘ adding that President Bush’s troop surge has not produced the desired effect. “The purpose of the surge was to create a secure time for the government of Iraq to make the political change to bring reconciliation to Iraq. They’ve not done that.” She then hastened to add, by the way, “The troops have succeeded. God bless them.”

From Late Edition, Wolf yesterday, who said to Pelosi, “You’re not worried all the gains that have been achieved over the past year in Iraq might be lost?”

PELOSI: There haven’t been gains, Wolf. The gains have not produced the desired effect, which is the reconciliation of Iraq. This is a failure. This is a failure! The troops have succeeded. God bless them. We owe them the greatest debt of gratitude, the sacrifice, their patriotism, and for their courage, and to their families as well. This is a — a disaster, and we cannot perpetuate it. We have to make decisions. And this is — the loss of life of nearly 4,000 of our troops, an average of 800 a year, tens of thousands injured; some of them permanently, blind, amputations.

Thank goodness. I’m so happy the Democrats are back on this.

Here we are in the middle of Iraq. I want to send out a hearty congratulations with sincere love, devotion, awe and respect to all of you wearing the military uniform of this country, in whatever branch in which you serve. Those of you in Iraq, those of you in Afghanistan, those of you who have been, those of you who are back, those of you who are back and going back; God bless you. You are succeeding. You are achieving victory.

— and let it be heard, the Democrat Party leadership today has no desire for your victory to be known.

They have no desire for your victory to be proposed and accepted by the American people.

You keep on, because Americans understand that you are succeeding and we understand this because Iraq is not even on the table as an election issue. Nobody is even talking about it on the Democrat side here. They can’t, they have already declared defeat, over and over again.

UK Times: Al-Qaeda Leaders Admit: ‘We Are in Crisis. There is Panic and Fear’