Ramadi is the key city in Iraq’s Anbar province, the area given up for lost last year by the CIA — and the same area where there has been a stunning turnaround in American fortunes since the beginning of the surge and the concurrent decision by Sunni leaders to ally with the United States against Al Qaeda in Iraq. Those who assume all is lost in Iraq might want to read this amazing report sent to Max Boot at Commentary’s Contentions blog by Col. John Charlton, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division — a very specific account of the progress being made and the danger still looming. I’m sure it won’t change anybody’s mind, because the conviction that all is lost allows its holder to believe any countervailing evidence is either false, or deceitful, or delusional. But it’s hard, reading Charlton’s e-mail, to assign any of those words to his report.