KARL ZINSMEISTER: Facts and fiction from the front:

Your editor has just returned from another month in Iraq — my fourth extended tour in the last two and a half years. During November and December I joined numerous American combat operations, including the largest air assault since the beginning of the war, walked miles of streets and roads, entered scores of homes, listened to hundreds of Iraqis, observed voting at a dozen different polling sites, and endured my third roadside ambush. With this latest firsthand experience, here are answers to some common queries about how the war is faring.

Read the whole thing. And here’s some related information from Jim Lindgren.