Deaths In Iraq Continue To Decline

A recent, popular slogan designed to sow defeatism is "There is no Military Solution" (similar to "War is Not the Answer").

The current trend in Iraq would say otherwise, thanks to the very military answer known as the "surge":

October is on course to record the second consecutive decline in U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths and American commanders say they know why: the U.S. troop increase and an Iraqi groundswell against al Qaeda and Shiite militia extremists.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch points to what the military calls "Concerned Citizens" - both Shiites and Sunnis who have joined the American fight. He says he's signed up 20,000 of them in the past four months.

"I've never been more optimistic than I am right now with the progress we've made in Iraq. The only people who are going to win this counterinsurgency project are the people of Iraq. We've said that all along. And now they're coming forward in masses," Lynch said in a recent interview at a U.S. base deep in hostile territory south of Baghdad. Outgoing artillery thundered as he spoke.

Iraqi citizens aren't coming forward in masses out of love for the US reconstruction effort; they now feel safe from al-Qaeda brutality because of American might. Power is evidence of divine favor in Muslim culture. Might makes right.

Lynch, who commands the 3rd Infantry Division and once served as the military spokesman in Baghdad, is a tireless cheerleader of the American effort in Iraq. But the death toll over the past two months appears to reinforce his optimism. The question, of course: Will it last?