Monday, October 29, 2007

The numbers from Iraq Body Count

Iraq Body Count, which draws its numbers from news and official reports, seems to agree with the growing consensus that violence is dropping in Iraq.

The surge seems to have provided the antidote to the bombing of the mosque at Samarra, which touched off a terrible cycle of sectarian violence.

If the bombing was perpetrated by al Qaida, it was a inspired case of savage strategy. It made things difficult for the coalition as well as the new national government, and it created the conditions for recruitment of hopeless Iraqis to a hopeless cause.

Fortunately, it seems that with the Anbar Awakening and similar dynamics near Baghdad that the average Iraqi now knows who the real enemy is. The butchery of Iraqis by al Qaeda overlords sent the message better than any print or radio source could ever have done.

It would be nice if the graph foretold the rest of the year ...

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