Target: Baghdad

Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister of Iraq, sets a bold course. He declares several goals - security, reconstruction, incorporation of militias into the national security services - and declares Baghdad the focus of the counter-terror campaign:

Baghdad is home to a quarter of Iraq's population and is its financial and political center. This government of national unity will launch an initiative to secure the capital and confront the ethnic cleansing that is taking place in many areas around it. We will meet head-on the armed gangs and terrorists who we believe constitute the main threat to security. Furthermore, we will develop and strengthen the country's intelligence services, which represent the best form of defense against terrorist bombings.

We believe we will soon reach a tipping point in our battle against the terrorists as Iraqi security services increase in size and capacity, taking more and more responsibility away from the multinational forces.

While Anbar experiences more attacks per capita, Baghdad is now the most violent location in Iraq. Note, however, Major General Caldwell's comment from today's press briefing:

Q Sir, where is that raid, please?

GEN. CALDWELL: I'll have to get that location for you. It's in and around the Baghdad area. I looked at the 17 sites today. All of them either inside Baghdad or within about a 15-mile radius right around Baghdad, but centered -- all 17 around the Baghdad area.

It appears increasingly likely that coalition operations in Anbar province, along with increased resentment by the population there, had indeed pushed al Qaeda in Iraq into an ever-constricting ring around Baghdad. While this is also evident from the death toll there, perhaps the peak has been reached.