PJM Baghdad Editor Omar Fahdil of Iraq the Model reports on encouraging signs:

Baghdad is still enjoying some days of relative calm interrupted only with minor sporadic incidents. In general there’s a feeling that these days are better than almost any other time in months. This is more evident in the eastern side of Baghdad than the western part, because the former part has received more US and Iraqi military reinforcements than the latter.

Checkpoints in Baghdad are becoming more abundant, with more attention paid to the exits and entrances of the city. I’m also hearing that those checkpoints have been reinforced with more soldiers and equipment.

Politically, today president Talbani visited Maliki in his office “to express support for Maliki’s security plan”. Maliki said after the meeting that operations would quickly gain momentum in the coming days, and that the troops will make efforts help displaced citizens return to their homes.

Signs of such efforts can already be seen on the streets, through political work instead of military. Yesterday the “popular support” committee headed by Ahmed Chalabi succeeded in reopening a Sunni mosque in Sadr city, returning control of the mosque to the Sunni endowment department after it was occupied by Sadr’s office personnel last year. The mosque was reopened with a celebration where Sunnis and Shia prayed together behind a Sunni cleric. Before the ceremony Shia volunteers cleaned up the area around the mosque from garbage and fixed the sign that carried the name of the mosque.

Still, I don’t expect much from politicians who are behind this. They are only trying to repair their damaged reputations. I do trust the cheering crowd; the average people who are weary of the violence. They clearly expressed their desire to see sectarian portioning reversed because they have seen what forced displacement has wrought upon civilians. Those people were not thinking of the motivations of politicians or clerics. They were speaking from their hearts.

Meanwhile, Michael Yon files a dispatch on the Roughnecks in Mosul and sends his thoughts on the transfer of authority in Baghdad, which he witnessed:

This morning in Baghdad, General George Casey transferred authority of MNF-I to General David Petraeus.

Anyone who knows much about General Petraeus might agree that David Petraeus seems to have been born and raised to win this particular war. Frankly, the odds seem nearly impossible. Iraq is broiling and it’s getting worse. But there are glimmers of hope, and I see those glimmers with my own eyes here in Iraq. Troop moral is still good to high, and Iraqi Security Forces are improving, for instance. But make no mistake: America has asked David Petraeus to walk into a burning barn and perform brain surgery on a dying patient. If it can be done, David Petraeus is our man. The odds are against him. Personally, I am betting on General Petraeus, his staff, and the great number of hard-minded people who believe Iraq can stand again. This means I am betting for the good guys, and against the terrorists.

I am not naive; I was the first writer, back in early 2005, to begin loudly proclaiming that Iraq was in civil war. People said I was “pessimistic,” or did not know the definition of “civil war.” I was the first, to my knowledge, to outline that Afghanistan will become a bloodbath during the Spring of 2007. Yet I believe that today we have found the right mix of knowledge and experience to succeed in Iraq.

Fortunately for the United States, the outgoing commanding general, George Casey has not decided to retire. General Casey will take his great experience back to Washington where it will be vital to the outcome of this war.

Copyright Michael Yon 2007

L to R: General John Abizaid; General George Casey; General David Petraeus; Chaplain Hoyt; Command Sergeant Major Jeffrey Mellinger

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There were more bombings in eastern Baghdad targeting Shia neighborhoods earlier today–which marks the first anniversary of the bombing of the Shiite Golden Dome shrine in Samarra:

Iraqi Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi accused al-Qaida of using the Samarra bombing to “stir sectarianism” and urged Iraqis to rebuild their country.

“We should not stand thwarted. All Iraqis – Arabs, Kurds, Turkomen and others – have to move forward to rebuild the new Iraq after it was ruined for decades,” he said.

“There is nothing in front of us except to share society together.”

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Documentarian Pat Dollard appeared on Fox News last week to talk about his work in Iraq, media bias, and close encounters with George Clooney and Vanity Fair.

Check out much more at Pat’s website.

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