Meanwhile, elsewhere in Iraq

I take today's New York Times/ AP report on Iraq as a very bad sign.

[...]

That is a large one-day toll. 16 injured from direct guerrilla attack, another two in a vehicle accident that may or may not have been produced by the war. And 5 deaths, though two of those were from the weekend, and one from a vehicle collision. It doesn't look like things are miraculously settling down in the aftermath of Fallujah.

Indeed, November was the second-deadliest month for US troops since the invasion itself. That isn't the kind of trend line you would like to see for a successful venture.

Then the rest of the article talks about how inadequate has been the performance of the Iraqi police and national guards, who face intimidation, threats, and even murder at the hands of the guerrillas.

Juan Cole post

A car bomb has exploded near a US military patrol in the town of Baiji, north of Baghdad, killing four Iraqi civilians and wounding 19 people, including two US soldiers.

[...]

In a separate attack, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at a US tank in the town, wounding one US soldier, a spokesman from the US 1st Infantry Division said.

Aljazeera article

AFP reported that guerrillas killed two Marines in clashes on Sunday. Also, in Anbar province, guerrillas killed three US servicemen on Sunday, and two had died there on Friday. A bomb exploded on the road to the airport. Al-Zaman says that the US campaign in Babil province faces difficulties. This is a broad area in which a million persons live, and had been a prime recruiting ground for Saddam’s Republican Guards. At least a hundred very wealthy families are supporting the guerrilla war there.

Juan Cole post