More Maps

The main point of my maps post from yesterday evening turns out to have been substantially anticipated by Smintheus at Unbossed and also this McClatchey report that I missed when it came out on Tuesday.

I'll also add that the maps, even with the additional detail provided in General Jones' graphic, are still a bit hard to interpret. The color-coding of the density of violent incidents doesn't give us any actual quantities. And perhaps most important, I don't know anything about the population density of Baghdad or the disposition of American forces and other things. It's also worth saying that whether or not reductions in sectarian violence in Baghdad are due primarily to ethnic cleansing is a somewhat academic point at the moment (though it would be nice if the administration could be honest about it) -- the real issue is whether or not a politically stable new equilibrium emerges along post-cleansing borders or whether we just go to neighborhood-versus-neighborhood violence without endless American efforts to divide the parties.