Things getting better in most of Iraq

UPI:

Despite Wednesday's spectacular attacks in Baghdad, U.S. military officials say Baghdad and the rest of Iraq are getting better rather than worse.

They base their assessment on the last six weeks compared to the previous six weeks, before U.S. and Iraqis forces began the Baghdad security plan.

According to Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero, the deputy director of operations on the Joint Staff, sectarian murders have dropped. Civilian casualties and the number of attacks on civilians are down by approximately 50 percent in Baghdad. Across Iraq, civilian casualties are down by 24 percent with attacks against civilians dropping by about 17 percent countrywide.

Only in north-central Iraq -- the area stretching from Mosul to northern Baghdad, including Baquba -- has there been an increase in casualties, he said.

"We are not seeing an expansion of violence to other areas outside Baghdad," Barbero said.

...

Gen Petraeus has said that attacks like the ones this week do have an impact on morale, which is what they were intended to do. The al Qaeda war crimes against non combatants have several goals. Obviously they are intended to intimidate Shia or in the alternative incite sectarian violence. They also speak to the feeling of hopelessness among Democrats in Washington where al Qaeda has its best chance of victory. There is an underlying objective that is not as obvious. By attacking markets they are trying to discourage commerce and destroy the economy. Economics has been at the heart of their war plan with the US and this is just another attempt to drive up the cost of the war.