Iraq Violence Lowest since '06 Mosque Attack: U.S.

But for how long? Clearly the Sunni insurgents turning against al Qaeda has had a positive effect, but it isn't enough. These insurgents are more anti-al Qaeda than they are pro-America, and they will turn against us eventually, again. In addition, the Shiite view our cooperation with the Sunnis suspiciously. Finally, the all these factors, along with the surge, does not make the government in Iraq any less incompetent or corrupt:

Violence in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level since before a mosque attack last year which unleashed the deadliest phase of the Iraq war, the deputy commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said on Thursday.

Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno said attacks in Baghdad had also fallen by half since January, just before Washington began pouring 30,000 extra troops into Iraq to try to drag the nation back from the brink of civil war.

"There are still way too many civilian casualties inside of Baghdad and Iraq," Odierno said, after telling a news conference the number of sectarian killings in the capital had fallen from an average of about 32 a day to 12 a day this year.