Washington Times - The top U.S. commander in Iraq yesterday declared an end to a 10-day wave of sectarian violence that killed an estimated 350 civilians, asserting that many reports of violence were "exaggerated."

"It appears that the crisis has passed," said Army Gen. George Casey, giving a detailed public report card. "But we all should be clear that Iraqis remain under threat of terrorist attacks by those who will stop at nothing to undermine the formation of this constitutionally elected government. ... They tried to have this [be] the straw that broke the camel's back, and it failed."

Given the level of violence in the Muslim world we've seen spawned by the Mohammed cartoons, that the bombing of this major mosque failed to spark civil war is a testament both to the amount of progress we've made in Iraq and the level at which Iraqi security forces are operating.

The media and the liberal left in this country did their best to convince Americans - and by extension Iraqis - that things were going to pot in Iraq, but in the end most of the people in Iraq decided their new democrat political process is the best way to deal with their differences.

Again, a testament to just how far things have come in that country.