Falling and rising

US military deaths in Iraq are at their lowest since the start of the war: only 21 in December, versus 112 for the same month last year.
Civilian deaths are down, too, to 481, though 2007 was the bloodiest year of the entire war; 16,232 died in 2007, up from just over 12,000 in 2006.
The U.S. military's No. 2 commander in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, described "signs of a return to normalcy" that he had seen recently in Baghdad: trucks delivering big-ticket retail items such as heaters and washing machines to shops, children playing soccer on public fields.
"The key piece now is, can we sustain this and can it be sustained so the government can move forward?" he said.

Rico says what are the poor Democrats going to do when we win this war?