DEXTER FILKINS ON HOW MUCH IRAQ HAS IMPROVED. “When I left Baghdad two years ago, the nation’s social fabric seemed too shredded to ever come together again. The very worst had lost its power to shock. To return now is to be jarred in the oddest way possible: by the normal, by the pleasant, even by hope.”

Well, you know it has to have gotten much better, as the press has quit talking about it. Meanwhile, TigerHawk notes how much Filkins’ reporting echoes Michael Yon. And, if you missed it earlier, be sure to read this WSJ piece on why the Surge worked.