The surge is actually NOT a troop increase

I haven't fact-checked this, but a source who should know pointed this out to me about Bush's troop surge -- this actually just brings the US force level back up to the point (after some drawdowns over the years) that they were at when Iraq descended into chaos in the first place. So, he's not really sending more troops, but is rather, restoring troop levels to a number that was already inadequate to pacify Iraq.