A Calmer Iraq: Fragile, and Possibly Fleeting.

The article focuses on the decline in violence in Iraq in the second half of 2007. Iraqi and U.S. officials in that country state that the decline stems from three factors, the number of Sunni insurgents who have begun cooperating with U.S. troops rather than fighting them, the halt of military action by the Shiite militia led by Moktada al-Sadr, and the increase of the U.S. forces. All of these developments are subject to sudden change. U.S. troop levels will decline in 2008.