An interesting observation:

To use another metric: when things are going badly in a country, we tend to see flows of refugees out of the country. Indeed, opponents of the war warned at the time of the dire situation that would be created by fleeing Iraqis. Not only did this fail to happen, but the net flow since the war has actually been into Iraq, as people have returned from exile in Syria, Jordan, and the West.

For those who remember the doomsday predictions before the war, perhaps the most encouraging news is the almost total absence of Sunni-Shiite violence, and the lack of a strong Kurdish secessionist movement. Thus far, all groups seem overwhelmingly willing to work with each other within a political framework. Even Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite leader who had criticized coalition forces, now calls them "guests" in the country and says that "Saddam Hussein and his followers are the enemies of Iraq, not the Americans."