People who’ve actually been paying attention to the situation in Iraq know that violence has been down significantly since the surge came into full force. Even Majority Leader Steny Hoyer recognized the improvement. But how low is low? How about the lowest levels since 2003?

BAGHDAD (AP) — Violence in Iraq is at its lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion, finally opening a window for reconciliation among rival sects, the second-ranking U.S. general said Sunday as Iraqi forces formally took control of security across half the country.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the man responsible for the ground campaign in Iraq, said that the first six months of 2007 were probably the most violent period since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The past six months, however, had seen some of the lowest levels of violence since the conflict began, Odierno said, attributing the change to an increase in both American troops and better-trained Iraqi forces.

“I feel we are back in ’03 and early ’04. Frankly I was here then, and the environment is about the same in terms of security in my opinion,” he said. “What is different from then is that the Iraqi security forces are significantly more mature.”…

Odierno said Anbar province, once plagued by violence, only recorded 12 attacks in the past week, down from an average of 26 per week over the past three months.

“The violence last week was the lowest ever,” he said of Anbar.

“So that kind of defines 2007 very simply. A long hard fight and a lot of sacrifice by a lot of soldiers, Marines and airmen to get there,” Odierno said.

A planned reduction of troops to about 130,000 at the end of next year from a high of around 165,000 at the height of the “surge” should not derail that effort, but Iraq’s government must take advantage of the improved security, Odierno said. There are 154,000 U.S. troops in Iraq now.

“We have a window, I don’t know how long that window is, but there is a window because of the security to move forward,” Odierno told a small group of journalists at his headquarters in Baghdad. “We need to get policies in place by the central government to do this.”

The requirement of political progress is something most, including myself, don’t deny. But the massive decrease in violence and increase in stability should now provide that window of opportunity to accomplish the goals. Lawmakers are now debating a U.S.-backed bill that would help create a National Commission for Accountability and Justice, an independent group which would screen former Baath Party members looking to take part in the new government.

Also important to note in the first paragraph: Iraqi forces now control security across half of Iraq.

“This is a step toward resuming security responsibilities in all of Iraq’s provinces that is due in the middle of next year,” Iraqi National Security adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie said in Basra. He represented Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at the handover ceremony in the capital of the oil-rich region.

Meanwhile in the formerly British-controlled Basra, things aren’t looking as hopeful, with the police chief telling the media the Brits left his territory in a state of chaos.