As the saying goes, “no news is good news” and so it has been with the Iraq conflict. The only time Iraq gets major news coverage is when things are going bad for America and the coalition. As a result, it is very easy to assess how things are actually going.

Using this ‘method’ it is quite easy to judge that Iraq is going quite well. I mean how much have we heard about Iraq in the past weeks? Very little.

So today, the suspicions of an increasingly improving Iraq were confirmed. General David Petraeus, the out going U.S. Commander in Iraq (leaving to take command of U.S. CENTCOM), announced that he expects to recommend further troop reductions prior to leaving his post.

The amount of troops expected to be withdrawn was not announced and it is doubtful to be a huge number, nevertheless, there are a couple of positive things to take from this.

The first is that it demonstrates the increased ability and aptitude of Iraqi security forces and police. They are taking a majority of the leads on raids and rooting out insurgents and are providing significant enough security for most Iraqis and for commerce and the economy to flourish. Even Basra, the site of one of the more recent major battles, is experiencing a pleasant period of peace and stability.

The second is that it demonstrates the continued weakening of insurgent groups like Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and the Sadr Militia (the latter partially a result of Muqtada Al’Sadr’s cease fire). AQI is currently being rooted out of their last semi-strong hold in Mosul in North Iraq. This seems to be AQI’s last stand. There is no where else for them to go and they have been defeated in every location they have previously been.

It seems readily apparent that the “war” portion of the conflict is coming to an end. Since General Petraeus took command the U.S. military has carried out, with the aid of Iraqi forces, one of the most impressive military campaigns ever. Urban warfare of this sort is practically unprecedented in history, not just for America. It took too long for them to figure it out, but now that they have, they have nearly secured a military victory.

As Iraq becomes increasingly secure and safe the next steps are political rectification and economic development, both which have been actively pursued since the start of the conflict. However, as Africa can attest, economic and political stability cannot be attained without some respective level of security. Now that Iraq is acheiving that the sky is the limit for Iraq and the sooner U.S. and coalition troops can fully withdraw.