To his credit, it’s being featured on Drudge right now. While the fact that 11 Americans gave the ultimate sacrifice is still hard, July had the lowest death toll for American troops since the invasion of Iraq.

Eleven US soldiers were killed in Iraq in July, the lowest monthly toll since the 2003 invasion, according Pentagon figures, highlighting what US commanders say is a marked drop in overall violence.

The number compares with the deadliest month of November 2004 when 137 American troops were slain, an independent toll by icasualties.org showed. The previous low was in May this year when 19 soldiers were killed.

Iraqi civilian deaths are also down drastically, falling to their lowest level since April 2005. General David Petraeus told an interviewer that “overall violence was falling to almost “normal” levels”.

When did this downward trend begin? AFP readily admits that it started when the troop surge did. You know, the same surge that Democrats claimed either wouldn’t help or would make the situation worse.