In its newly released report summing up its data on Iraqi casualties for the year 2008, Iraq Body Count writes:

With only a few days of 2008 remaining, the year so far has seen another 8,315-9,028 civilian deaths added to the IBC database. This compares to 25,774-27,599 deaths reported in 2006, and 22,671-24,295 in 2007. This is a substantial drop on the preceding two years: on a per-day rate, it represents a reduction from 76 per day (2006) and 67 per day (2007) to 25 per day in 2008.

The most notable reduction in violence has been in Baghdad. For the first time since the US-led occupation of Iraq began, fewer deaths have been reported in the capital than in the rest of the country (from 54% of all deaths in 2006-2007 to 32% in 2008). Most of these reductions have been attributed to declining inter-communal violence.

Yet these improvements, as important and welcome as they...

Auto fuel (ID/liter)

	13-Dec	27-Dec	Percent change
Baghdad al-Jadida	700	700
Sadr City	650	600	-7.7%
Harthiya	700	800	14.3%
'Amil	700	800	14.3%
Sha'b	800	700	-12.5%
Ghazaliya	700	750	7.1%
Mansour	800	800