Mesopotamia is a hell of a big area. Two months of reporting on casualty figures in Baghdad hardly make this front page news. The obvious questions include: where in Iraq and the rest of Mesopotamia have alqaeda regrouped? what projections of shiite-sunni conflict in vacated baghdad are there? will the iraqi army succeed in policing the 95% of iraq that is not baghdad? what analyses and interpretations are available for focusing upon al qaeda's withdrawal as a tactical move? Etc. Etc.