Top Ten Myths about Iraq in 2007

In 2007, the top ten myths about Iraq were as follows:

1. The reduction in violence in Iraq is mostly because of the escalation in the number of US troops, or "surge."

2. Iraq has been "calm" in fall of 2007 and the Iraqi public, despite some grumbling, is not eager for the US to depart.

3. The Iraqi north is relatively quiet and a site of economic growth.

4. The Sunni Arab "Awakening Councils," who are on the US payroll, are reconciling with the Shiite government of PM Nuri al-Maliki even as they take on al-Qaeda remnants.

5. Some progress has been made by the Iraqi government in meeting the "benchmarks" worked out with the Bush administration.

6. The US overthrow of the Baath regime and military occupation of Iraq has helped liberate Iraqi women.

7. Iran was supplying explosively formed projectiles (a deadly form of roadside bomb) to Salafi Jihadi (radical Sunni) guerrilla groups in Iraq.

8. The US troop surge stopped the civil war that had been raging between Sunni Arabs and Shiites in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

9. There have been steps toward religious and political reconciliation in Iraq in 2007.

10. The US public no longer sees Iraq as a central issue in the 2008 presidential campaign.

See the indispensible Juan Cole debunk each of these myths in turn at Informed Comment.