All's Quiet on the Middle Eastern Front? Too Quiet.

Okay, let me say this slowly and simply for the people who still don't understand that the only positive story to come out of Iraq will be the news that we're leaving. Falling violence isn't good. It's a symptom of the problem, not the a sign of the solution working. Baghdad was once a place where all of Iraq's ethnicities lived and worked alongside each other. A diverse place with some segregation, sure, but no more forced than Chinatown or Little Mexico is in an American downtown - people like living near people who share similar backgrounds and beliefs. It wasn't, you know, perfect but it wasn't Balkanized. Not like it is today where ethnic neighborhoods are no-go zones if you happen to have the wrong ancestors. Wave after wave of sectarian strife has swept through the city, cleansing it ethnically. Forcing its residents to flee their homes and gather in fortified enclaves for their own protection. That the violence is finally dropping doesn't mean the fire's been stopped. It just means it's finally run low on fuel to burn. There aren't as many killings because they've finally run out of people to kill.