In Baghdad the Iraqi government is eager to give the impression that peace is returning. 'Not a single sectarian murder or displacement was reported in over a month,' claimed Brigadier Qasim Ata, the spokesman for the city's security plan. In the US, the surge - the dispatch of 30,000 more American troops in the first half of 2007 - is portrayed as having turned the tide. Democrats in Congress no longer call aggressively for a withdrawal of American troops. The supposed military success has revived the previously languishing campaign of the hawkish John McCain, who will now almost certainly be his party's candidate for the presidency.

LRB 6 March 2008 | PDF Download