Farnaz Fassihi, Iranian American correspondent in Iraq for the Wall Street Journal, Democracy Now!:
I think that the fact that the violence came down is because of three reasons. It’s because of the surge, one reason. It’s also because of the Americans putting the Sunni insurgents on the payroll. They’re paying about $300 a month to former insurgents who were killing the troops a few years ago, because they’re now trying to get onboard with the American plan, and also because of the Shia ceasefire. But these things are very fragile. I mean, you could—one of you take one out of the question, and things could fall apart again. I think there was a report yesterday that assassination cells have returned to Baghdad, killing people, so”¦