Captain's Quarters
As Reuters notes, the dramatic decline in the use of hospitals indicates that the testimony of General David Petraeus was truthful. One emergency ward in an area of previously intense fighting only had two patients in it when Reuters visited. In the morgue, the bodies that remain from the sectarian violence have been there for weeks. The previous month has brought an end to the flood of casualties that had plagued Baghdad, and especially the Sunni areas, for years.
Nouri al-Maliki estimated that violence has fallen in Baghdad by perhaps as much as 75% of what had been previously seen. The Deputy Health Minister estimates closer to 85%. He declared the situation in the capital "calm and stable", and that the violence is much less prevalent than before.
Oddly, this did not get much play in the American media yesterday. The Washington Post, New York Times, and Los Angeles Times all focused on the expulsion of Blackwater rather than the evidence that the security situation has greatly improved in Baghdad. Which story do you think more important to the American people?
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