A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Please cover this news story with as much attention as you would if it actually reported bad news:

U.S. troop deaths in Iraq fell to their lowest level last month since the 2003 invasion and officials said on Sunday improved security also helped the country boost oil production in May to a post-war high.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Iraq's oil minister credited better security for the two milestones, which illustrated a dramatic turnabout in the fortunes of a country on the brink of all-out sectarian civil war just 12 months ago.

"We've still got a distance to go but I think lower casualty rates are a reflection of some real progress," Gates told reporters in Singapore. "The key will be to continue to sustain the progress we have seen."

Lest I have not been clear in my reaction to such stories in the past, I don't think that any of this means that we are out of the woods in Iraq. But significant progress has been made since the implementation of the surge and the counterinsurgency strategy and it is high time that the critics of the surge--both within the media and in the political class as well--were confronted with this news. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton especially should be made to comment on these matters. More here.