INSIDE THE TENT...:

US, civilian deaths continue fall in Iraq: Commanders cite new tactics (Steven R. Hurst, 11/03/07, Associated Press)

Police found the bodies of six victims of sectarian violence dumped in three Iraqi cities yesterday. There were no reported shootings or bombings, and it was only the second day this year that the sectarian death toll fell below 10, according to an Associated Press count.

Both days were Fridays, the Muslim day of rest and prayer. The last was Feb. 23, when records show five Iraqis were found dead in Baghdad. No one died in shootings or bombings on that day either.

On average, 56 Iraqis - civilians and security forces - have died each day this year. But there appears to be a marked difference between Feb. 23 and yesterday.

More than four months after US forces completed a 30,000-strong force buildup, the death toll for both Iraqis and Americans has fallen dramatically for two months running.

US commanders credit a new tactic of putting troops into neighborhood bases and of signing on disaffected former enemies as new allies in the fight against the most radical elements in both the Shi'ite and Sunni communities, especially Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr also has called a cease-fire, a move seen largely responsible for the drop in sectarian murders.

MORE:
Iraq surge brings hope for a day without death (Tom Baldwin in Washington, Deborah Haynes in Baghdad and Anna Stroman, 11/03/07, Times of London)

It is whispered about at the margins of meetings and discussed in Washington parties where rumour is passed around with the wine and canapés. It even appears, fleetingly, to be fact.

“The day nobody died from violence in Iraq” is a date that has been much anticipated in the White House — where President Bush is desperate to hail the success of his surge of 30,000 troops this year. But no one can quite say when this event, longed for by most, if not all, people on the street corners of Baghdad, occurred.