Alive in Baghdad has spoken with a number of Iraqis and spent an uneventful afternoon at one checkpoint in Baghdad to take our own look at how security is progressing. Despite the rhetoric on all sides, many are critical of the Prime Minister’s apparent failure to take steps to establish political reconciliation.

Some cite the security forces themselves, and many of these same forces, in particular Iraq’s National Police, resent the charges from outsiders that they are incapable, when they have been given so few tools to work with.

Others reacted with shock and disbelief that anyone would imply there were any successes from the security plan. Checkpoints are seen as little more than a nuisance by many Iraqis, while others feel the security surge is having some success and want the efforts to continue. Unfortunately, the control of checkpoints by sectarian groups continues to be particularly frightening in some areas of Baghdad and Iraq.

Particularly controversial, the decision by the United States military to begin supporting certain Sunni tribes with money and weaponry, in exchange for fighting Al-Qaeda, has brought concerns of many shades. Some are quick to note that not only did this element being attributed to the surge begin months before the surge, it also has limited effect on the most important issue facing Iraq’s security, ongoing ethnic rivalry. Other critics worry the results could be much worse and that these Sunni tribes could, “become independent power centers in a fracturing Iraq or turn against the Baghdad government.”