The gated communities of Baghdad -- that is, the sectarian enclaves divided from one another by massive, U.S.-constructed concrete blast walls -- are starting to come down, reports The New York Times. Given that, this Guardian piece of mine from last April looks pretty stupid and hysterical. I did not expect, obviously, that the surge could have succeeded in diminishing violence to January-2004 levels; and certainly did not expect after my trip last March to Baghdad and Mosul that the blast walls would be torn down in 18 months.

This is unequivocally great news. Normalcy is great news. A decline in violence is great news. Given that great news, it might make more sense to, you know, slash troop levels beyond 8000 next year.