The Violence continues in Baghdad

Anthony Shadid reports from Baghdad, and the news is not good.

Car Bomb Kills 16 in Crowded Baghdad Market

The US military is working mightily to project success: the number of attacks is down, US casualties are at their lowest since 2003. But if you're watching closely, you're noticing that there have been major attacks for several days now. Twenty dead, 15 dead - absolutely unacceptable in most of the world, but somehow, by our lights, minor in Iraq.

Shadid makes it plain: Iraqis are getting scared, and there's a sense that various aggrieved parties are starting to coalesce and lay plans for the time when the US troops depart. I fear Thomas Ricks may be right: the Iraq war may indeed be reaching only a halfway point. God forbid . . .