Note the decrease of yellow (mixed) areas between the two maps. This ethnic cleansing - people fleeing their homes into other neighborhoods - is part of the decrease in violence that happened during the surge, and it is unresolved.

Yea, killing --perhaps by now -- half-a-million people or more and making millions homeless and refuges has caused a reduction in the violence : There's less people to murder.

Why fight when you achieved your goals. Basically Iraq has been divided and the American military presence is largely irrelevant.

Wasn't hitler attempting an ethnic cleansing?