Gen. David Petraeus discusses the changes that led to the rapid turnaround of American fortunes in Iraq [Transcript | Slideshow]:
"I wanted to talk a bit about the "surge" because the surge was more than what the most prominent element of it in most folk's mind was: the addition of some 30,000 U.S. forces over time, the combat elements of which were five U.S. Army brigade combat teams, two Marine battalions, a Marine expeditionary unit, and then a number of enablers, including a division headquarters, some additional aviation engineers, MP assets, intelligence forces, and others..."
Very much more, as reporters like Noah Shachtman have documented. Petraeus adds other elements as well, while sketching out the challenges ahead as he sees them.