Baghdad is safer today than it was this time last year. Outside of the capital, there has been improvement in the country's level of sustainable security and a decline in the number of violent incidents since July 2007.
It might appear that post-war Iraq is moving toward long-term recovery. However, these trends do not reflect the daily violence faced by civilians who are being wounded and killed inside the present-day stronghold of Al-Qaeda in Iraq: Diyala province.
In the distance, the sudden sound of an explosion reminded me that I was in Diyala. With a mouth full of grapes, I walked toward the northern edge of the roof and looked for smoke. From the rooftop I could not see the tragic event unfold. Somewhere in Diyala, gravely injured women screamed for help.
Less than an hour later, I arrived at Combat Outpost Mukhisa with a Coalition security patrol. The Iraqi Army operates Mukhisa. As I walked toward the command post, insurgents fired two rocket-propelled grenades at the outpost's north wall. Iraqi soldiers armed with rifles raced past me to the main gate.