More evidence that ethnic cleansing, Not The Surge, has caused the drop in Iraqi violence

This is interesting.  Buried in the new Quarterly Report from the Pentagon is this statistic:  74% of Iraqis feel safe in their own neighborhoods, but only 37% feel safe outside their neighborhoods.  Iraq has become a nation of ethnically cleansed neighborhoods, separated by 12 foot concrete barrier walls.  Before the US invasion, Iraqis lived peacefully enough amongst each other.  Within the confines of these “gated communities,” people do indeed feel safer, but they’re scared to leave.  Think Progress notes:

A new study released by UCLA concluded that ethnic violence was the primary factor in reducing violence in Iraq, conclusions also echoed by the GAO. Indeed, Baghdad is now a “city of shadows” characterized by blast walls separating Shi’a and Sunni.

By the way, for you wingnuts, GAO stands for “Government Accountability Office,” and it’s part of the U.S. Government under the Bush administration.  It’s not a “lib’rul” group.  Joe Christoff of the GAO also noted last year that part of the drop in violence is due to the displacement of refugees:

“It’s produced 2.2 million refugees that have left, it’s produced two million internally displaced persons within the country as well.”

John McCain is lying when he clings to his assertion that his beloved “surge” fixed anything or that we’re now “winning” the war against Iraq.

Think Progress also provides an interesting map of Iraq which illustrates the above statistics:

The fact that there’s no green in the map on the right shows just how wide the ethnic cleansing and forced separation has really been.  Imagine if you couldn’t leave your own neighborhood without facing the very real danger that you could be maimed or killed.  Again, John McCain’s beloved “surge,” which he wants to transport to Afghanistan, against the advice of Gen. David McKiernan, the top commander on the ground,  hasn’t fixed a goddamn thing.