I guess these don't count

In his TKS blog, Jim Geraghty records some of Rep. Murtha's recent comments. Among them is this one that caught my eye:

When I said we can't win a military victory, it's because the Iraqis have turned against us. They throw a hand grenade or a rocket into American forces and the people run into the crowd and they — nobody tells them where they are.

Hmm. Nobody tells American forces where the terrorists are? I think the good Rep. Murtha just hasn't been keeping up on current events. The fact that the Iraqis are increasingly willing to give helpful intelligence to Coalition Forces is one of the more encouraging signs in Iraq lately.

Just today there was this report:

Iraqi security forces and Task Force Baghdad Soldiers continued to scour the streets of Baghdad during operations Dec. 3-7, hunting down terrorists, disabling roadside bombs and seizing stockpiles of weapons.

Some of the success of these operations can be attributed to tips received from concerned citizens who approached Iraqi and U.S. forces with information about the whereabouts of terrorists and weapons caches.

Shall we list just a few other reports as well?

How about this one:

A tip given by an Iraqi civilian led to the operation to nab the suspected terrorists who were responsible for harassing, threatening and intimidating local Iraqi civilian construction workers who are building a new prison facility.

Or this one:

Another weapons cache was seized in Kirkuk Dec. 6, after police received a tip from a local resident. Rockets, mortars, tank rounds, anti-aircraft rounds and artillery fuses were taken by Soldiers from 1st BCT and an EOD team for disposal.

Or this one:

U.S. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment conducted a raid in western Rashid based on information provided by local Iraqis. The raid resulted in the capture of two individuals.

Or this one:

A tip from a local citizen resulted in the capture of two terror suspects and the discovery of a large weapons cache in western Rashid Dec. 3.

Or this one:

Launching operations based on tips from Iraqi citizens and intelligence developed over time, Task Force Baghdad Soldiers captured 24 terror suspects in the Al Rasheed district during a 12-hour period Dec. 3-4.

Or this one:

Six terror suspects were detained in As Siniyah Dec. 2 after a concerned resident informed police about a vehicle-borne IED being built nearby.

Or this one:

With the help of tips provided to Coalition Forces by local residents, Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division detained five suspected terrorists Nov. 30.

Or this one:

A local citizen provided a potentially life-saving tip to the Iraqi Army in Sadr City Nov 26, alerting them to what appeared to be a bomb placed in the road.

Or this one:

An Iraqi tipster provided information about a roadside-bomb cell operating in western Rashid. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment responded to the tip and conducted the operation during the early-morning hours of Nov. 25, detaining three terror suspects.

Or this one:

Acting on multiple intelligence sources and tips from concerned citizens, Coalition forces raided a suspected Jaysh al-Mujahideen terrorist safe house in Abu Ghurayb, west of Baghdad, Oct. 23.

Or this one:

A tip from a local citizen on the location of a weapons cache in the Tissa Nissan district of east Baghdad resulted in the destruction of the weapons Nov 23.

Or this one:

Acting on tips from local residents, Iraqi Army Soldiers confiscated a large number of terrorist weapons and bomb-making materials Nov. 20 in west Baghdad.

Or this one:

Coalition forces acting on multiple intelligence sources and tips from concerned citizens raided a suspected al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist safe house in Baghdad Oct. 31 capturing an al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist named Uthman Faruq Muhammad Abd-al-Hamid (aka Abu Ibrahim).

Or this one:

After receiving a tip from a local resident, Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division uncovered what turned out to be a large weapons cache west of Baghdad.

I'd go on but I have work to do. Have I made my point? Rep. Murtha, Iraqi citizens are pointing out the bad guys, and their deadly weapons caches. Are we universally loved by all 20-some million Iraqis? No. Are we winning a military victory? Absolutely. Are we gaining the help of the Iraqi people? Yes, and that's a good thing.

(Update: Here's another one from Steve at ThreatsWatch:)

The number three terrorist on the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (28th Infantry Division) High Value Individual list was detained today in the provincial capital of Ar Ramadi.

Amir Khalaf Fanus, an al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist in the Ramadi area, was wanted for criminal activities including murder and kidnapping. Today, local Iraqi citizens brought him to an Iraqi and U.S. Forces military base in Ramadi.

(Update: This is from Cliff May in the Corner on Friday)

The key phrase here may be "turned in by local citizens." I was talking by phone with an Army major in Iraq this week. He said the most encouraging metric of all may be the number of tips about terrorists now being provided by Iraqis – it’s way up, it’s in the thousands.

(Update: If you go back to this post of mine, about tracking facilitators killed in the western river towns, and look through the links there you'll find a few more examples of Iraqis providing tips and information.)