I haven't seen anyone mention this on the news, and I figure it's important. So...

Although it's hard to tell from TV that Iraq is a little safer for our soldiers, it is. The death rate per day of the troops has fallen from 4.1 during the elections, to 2.14, to 1.29, and has just recently edged up a bit to 1.63. The recent rates are lose to where they were right after the invasion. You can then assume that less troops are being injured also.

One other thing that is a bit strange is that the ratio of American troop deaths to coalition deaths has increased. The coalition of the willing doesn't seem to be very willing to put their necks on the line. Americans account for over 90% of combat deaths and this percentage increases daily.

So...The good thing is that Iraq is safer for our soldiers now. However, the coalition is very slowly melting away both in numbers and dedication. But, if we're already accounting for over 90% of the casualties, who needs them anyways? I guess that's what the neocons thought in the first place. Regardless of what anyone thought about the ridiculous idea of invading Iraq for terrorism and WMD, the war is now one primarily for democracy, which we should all agree should succeed. If democracy would have been the selling point of the invasion in the first place, I'm sure more liberals would have gone along with it. . . but then I guess less conservatives would have.