There's a sinister reason why some journalists believe "the surge" is having a small effect in Iraq militarily. It's because we're actually fighting against the government we helped create. This is sick.

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BLITZER: What did you think of what we heard from General Odierno, suggesting that some progress, in fact, is being achieved on the battlefield against Al Qaida in Iraq and other elements there?

Because the critics, a lot of critics, are suggesting, yes, there may be some progress, but it won't make much difference in the long run, as long as that sectarian rift that exists between the Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds continues to exist.

WARE: Yes, well, General Ray Odierno very much has his finger on the pulse of this war, and his assessment is entirely correct.

Yes, there has been some stabilization, some spectacular examples, like in al-Anbar province. Yes, it's forced changes in the type of violence that we're seeing here.

But Iraqi innocents are still dying in their hundreds and thousands every month. And what we're failing to address is how we achieving these successes in bringing down the violence is by cutting a deal with the tribes, the Baathists and the Sunni insurgents. It's by creating Sunni militias to counteract the government's own militias and the Iranian-backed militias. That's bound to have long-term consequences.

In many ways, part of what's being achieved is because America is turning somewhat, despite its rhetoric, against this government, fostering Sunni militias, questioning the role of this government, questioning whether it can actually perform.

And we Ambassador Crocker, just the other day, say that if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki does not deliver, then American support is not at the end of a blank check. So he's threatening the prime minister.