Milblogger Pat Dollard offers another superb piece of reporting and analysis on the situation in Diyala Province, just south of Baghdad. Having been ejected from Al Anbar Province (something the MSM has done its best to avoid reporting), AQ is now making its last stand in Diyala.

Terrorists are parasites. They rely on a host body to support them. Now they can terrorize a host body into providing them support, but that will only go so far. Ultimately, the host body must be somewhat sympathetic to the terrorists, or else, by sheer dint of numbers, the members of the host body will be able to reject the terrorists. These two principles explain the entire history of Al Qaeda's reign over Al Anbar. Al Anbar, like Al Qaeda, is a Sunni entity. The people of Al Anbar were sympathetic enough to Al Qaeda that they provided them sanctuary, support and even manpower - which is to say, the very lifeblood that this parasite required. Finally, the Sunnis of Al Anbar had enough of the bleak and empty future, and very bloody present, that comprised the entirety of Al Qaeda's offerings. And so the host body rejected the parasite. The parasite is now in its last possible refuge, the mixed Sunni/Shiite Triangle of Death/Diyala Province, just south of Baghdad. My time in Iraq started there, and will likely end there. Along with Al Qaeda's time. [....]