Everyday we hear of suicide bombings in Iraq and the ordinary person listening to the news would think that nothing has changed. But that would be wrong. But you have to read past the headline, and even more than the first few paragraphs of a news story. For instance
Bombings have not slackened, with at least 10 people killed in blasts around Baghdad yesterday. However, an apparent success of the clampdown can be measured in the morgues: a sharp drop in the number of bullet-riddled bodies found in the streets of the capital, victims of sectarian death squads.
The number of bodies found this month in Baghdad -- most shot and showing signs of torture -- has dropped by nearly 50 percent to 494 as of Monday, compared with 954 in January. The figure stood at 1,222 in December, according to figures compiled by the Associated Press.
"We have seen a decrease in the past three weeks -- a pretty radical decrease," said Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, the number two US commander in Iraq.
Many Sunnis have long alleged that most of killings were by Shi'ite militias, such as the Mahdi Army or rogue elements within the Shi'ite-led police.
This impression, is not entirely incorrect. Though the majority of the car bombs that target innocent people are al Qaida, the majority of the sectarian killing can be accounted for by the Madhi Army, Iran's proxy army in Iraq led by Moqtada al-Sadr who is now in hiding as US an Iraqi troops begin the operation to occupy his base of operations and dismantle his organization
US-led strike forces seized suspected Shi'ite death squad bosses yesterday in raids that tested the fragile bonds between the government and a powerful militia faction allowing the Baghdad security crackdown to move ahead.
The sweeps through the Sadr City slum were part of highly sensitive forays into areas loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has ridiculed the two-week-old campaign for failing to halt bombings by suspected Sunni insurgents against Shi'ite civilians.
Sadr withdrew his powerful Mahdi Army militia from checkpoints and bases under intense government pressure to let the security push go forward. But the US-backed government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also worries that Sadr could pull his support if he feels his militiamen are being squeezed in Baghdad.
The predawn raids appeared to highlight a strategy of pinpoint strikes in Sadr City rather than the flood of soldiers sent into some Sunni districts.
But the attack on Sadr City itself is just the latest, but most crucial, development in the assault on Sadr's crew. Previously, members of Jaysh al-Mahdi (Sadr's boys) had been rounded up in areas other than Sadr City
In the past 45 days, combined coalition operations included 52 operations primarily focused on Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM) and 42 focused on Sunni Rejectionists / Extremists.
And the results have been dramatic.
But you have to read beyond the headlines to know it.
