Here is a report that helps get some local flavor from Iraq. It shows the complexity of appearances and realities.
Are the terrorists losing?
Iraqis remain concerned about insurgent bombings – many of them aimed at Iraqis, not coalition troops. But some bloggers think it's good news that the insurgents are being forced to employ these tactics because it shows their fundamental weakness. Here's Sam at Mesopotamian:
"Yesterday they struck again, one car bombing and two assassinations of Government officials. This is the only thing they can do. They had hoped that they could develop their fight to control areas and confront the Iraqis in open warfare. But they are being defeated and forced to fall back to earlier tactics, and with much difficulty. The ROUNDUP has started. To be sure, they will be able to deliver some more sabotage and terror but the price they are going to pay is going to go up and up. We have always thought that the Iraqis are better able to take care of internal security. You could see that so clearly in recent days. The police raids on crime dens were such a graphic illustration of the difference. The intelligent recognition by the policemen of who is criminal and who is innocent was so apparent. The people in the street, mostly vendors and shopkeepers, were happy even as bullets were flying all over the place. … "
Omar at Iraq the Model also gives the new government good marks for its initial efforts to improve security, and reports that "the new observation this time is that some of the confiscated weapons and ammunition are not from the ususal origins you can see in Iraq (automatic rifles other than the Ak47, bazookas other than the RPG7 and other devices) and these weapons don’t belong to the stuff left behind by the old army after the 9th of April 2003." They were smuggled in, he concludes.
Smuggled weapons might sound like a bad thing, but Omar thinks to the contrary it may indicate that the supply of leftover weapons from the Saddam regime may be drying up: "This is a good sign indeed because when getting weapons becomes more difficult and a lot more expensive than before we should expect a decline in the frequency of terrorist attacks in Iraq."
