If you actually look at who's shooting who, and who's bombing who, you aren't seeing a lot of attacks on the Iraqi government itself, or for that matter, on the U.S. troops.

Think about it. In almost four years of war, a little over 3,000 Americans have been killed. The sectarian violence has claimed this many Iraqis in a bad month.

You are seeing attacks by one group of people on the other group. Which groups are doing what is often not even covered by the press. There are bombs. There are casualties. That's usually the extent of analysis. Few stories mention any terrorist or insurgent casualties, or any coalition or Iraqi successes in this area. As one writer said, it's like listening to a basketball game and only hearing the score on one team.

Al Qaeda is engaging in some of the violence to create a civil war, which was their stated policy, in writing. Car bombs among civilians are their style. Iran is encouraging a lot of it. Millions of dollars have flowed to the Sadr militias from Iran, not to mention weapons and trained personnel. Ironically, Iran is even funding some Sunni attacks.

The picture in Baghdad and the west is far more complicated than is presented here or even in most news stories. I wish it were useful to try to haul some of that data in here, but I've learned there isn't much point to it.