Today is
the first of a three day holiday that concludes Ramadan, the Islamic month of
fasting. As such, it seems a good time
to remember that we really have turned the corner in Iraq. For the first five years of the war, Ramadan
was a nasty month for US troops. Why? Because in addition to their
normal program of fasting, Islamic fundamentalists in Iraq like to honor Allah
by literally festooning their roads with bombs. I was in theater (i.e. in the combat zone) for three of the last four of
these, and we always took more casualties during Ramadan.
This year,
word coming to me from marines and soldiers alike is that Ramadan has been
uneventful. No spikes in local activity,
no inordinate number of casualties just another month in Iraq. This Ramadan has seen less coalition forces
killed in Iraq than any of the five preceding it.
That's
really good news.