Measuring The Effect Of The Surge

Here's an interesting array of statistics on the number of deaths in Iraq, and Baghdad in particular. The essence is that there seems to be an abatement in the steady rise in civilian deaths that began with the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra.

Clearly it is too early to know the final outcome and some of this early improvement may come from the standing down of the Shiite militias. They may only be laying low until the Democrats in America are able to effect the removal of US forces. Only time will tell. But in the end it is certain that the responsibility for a long term slow evolution of Iraq into a civil society will be on the backs of the Iraqi politicians and their armed forces.

In any event, nice job of analysis by a blogger known only as Engram at his Back Talk blog.