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Has the Surge Stabilized Baghdad?

Jonathan Schanzer
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According to a veteran journalist for Newsweek, Baghdad is showing signs of stability and security.

“For the first time,” RodNordland writes, “returning to Baghdad after an absence of four months, I can actually say that things do seem to have gotten better…IED attacks across the country are at their lowest point since September 2004, down 50 percent just since the surge peaked last summer. There hasn’t been a successful suicide car bombing in Baghdad in five weeks….”

Things are stable enough such that Baghdad recently held a vintage car exhibition, according to the al-Jazeera website. That Baghdad could even find a way to host this event shows how far the city has come.

Even anti-war lawmaker John Murtha seems to think the surge is working. Still, only time will tell whether the surge has truly stabilized Iraq.