You delude yourself. Nothing has gone according to plan since the White House said the troops would be home by Christmas 2003. Get over it.

“– heck, like everything in Iraq – all is not going according to plan.”

Today, USA Today is reporting that 75% of Baghdad is “under control” per MNFI. Other than the obvious, what does that mean in terms of progress?
The military classifies 356 of Baghdad's 474 neighborhoods in the “control” or “retain” category of its four-tier security rating system, meaning enemy activity in those areas has been mostly eliminated and normal economic activity is resuming.
An the elimination of the threat and the return of normal economic activity signals dramatic improvement and a shift in priorities for normal Iraqis. As MG Rick Lynch said last week, Iraqis aren't taking about security anymore, they're talking about jobs. That's a very important development.

So how much progress has been made in Baghdad? Well consider that almost a year ago, when Phase I of the surge began (Phase I being the actual surging of the troops, not the kinetic portion of Phase II), only 37 Baghdad neighborhoods were in the “control” and “retain” categories.

But, it is always easy to make your point when you simply ignore the facts that don't jibe with the headline you want.