By Andrew L. Jaffee

The numbers — facts on the ground — continue to disprove the naysayers who would have us flush Iraq down the toilet, just to satisfy a political score/sore:

… Earlier on Tuesday, a number of Iraqi ministries released data suggesting that the number of civilian[s] killed in Iraq was continuing to fall.

The December death toll was 480, down from almost 900 two months previously and about 2,000 in December 2006. …

American military deaths also fell in December, dropping to 21 compared to more than 100 in December 2006.

Other likely factors behind the fall in deaths are the emergence of Sunni tribal groups opposed to al-Qaeda and the truce called by Shia militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr. …