IRAQ: A (very) good sign

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There are signs throughout Anbar province that the Marines are winning the struggle against the insurgency: the ‘rebirth’ of Fallouja; strong alliances with Sunni tribal sheiks; improvements in the Iraqi army; Iraqis willing to shake off three decades of centralized control under Saddam Hussein.

But there are disquieting signs as well: an uptick in the number of suicide bombers, some in their teens; the questionable honesty of some police units; the balkiness of the provincial and central governments; an unemployment rate well into the double digits.

Amid these conflicting signs is a sign outside the base trauma hospital at Camp Fallouja. During the fights in Fallouja in 2004, the hospital saw a flood of wounded Marines and soldiers. Just 15 months ago — during my last visit — three Marines wounded by an insurgent sniper were rushed here in a futile attempt to save their lives.

But now things are different. The Camp Pendleton-based 3rd battalion, 5th regiment, has done 7,000 patrols in Fallouja and its environs in the last five months without suffering a fatality or an injury that required the Marine to be evacuated out of Iraq.

Where once the doctors and corpsmen at the hospital dealt with gunshot wounds and blast injuries from roadside bombs, now their daily fare is more likely to be turned ankles and indigestion.

Which leads to the very good sign outside Fallouja Surgical.

— Tony Perry at Camp Fallouja