What, Exactly, Is The So-Called "Grim" Message?

Finally, I found an article that shows that the security sweep in Baghdad is having some effect. Unfortunately, the AP is having a hard time keeping their relief at continued violence covert. Controversy sells advertising, peace does not.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Militants struck back Sunday in their first major blow against a U.S.-led security clampdown in Baghdad with car bombings that killed at least 63 people, left scores injured and sent a grim message to officials boasting that extremist factions were on the run.

I hadn't heard that Operation Law and Order was supposed to produce immediate and permanently positive results. I know the Iraqi's did not share expectations that absurd.

The attacks in mostly Shiite areas — twin explosions in an open-air market that claimed 62 lives and a third blast that killed one — were a sobering reminder of the challenges confronting any effort to rattle the well-armed and well-hidden insurgents.
Instead, it was the Iraqi commanders of the security sweep feeling the sting.

Not to mention the families of about sixty murdered civilians, and several dozens more wounded. This article refers to one of the more depressing Iraqi newspapers, Azzaman , in keeping with the general attitude that AP projects. On Azzaman's English site, there is no article related to the Baghdad murders on Sunday, the 18th. Note the date is Wednesday, the 14th. Also note that Azzaman originates in southern Iraq.

Azzaman, February 14, 2007
Car bombs and insurgent attacks have shaken Iraqis’ faith in the new Baghdad security plan which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki unveiled today.
The plan which has divided Baghdad into 10 security zones has cripple the Iraqi capital, with traffic congestions and no-go areas making it almost impossible for many government employees and workers to reach destinations.

Iraq The Model, living and blogging in Baghdad - getting his information from neighbors , local media and the Al-Sabah newspaper - had a completely different take.

The most significant and encouraging development is certainly this report from al-Sabah:

"Brigadier Qasim Ata, an authorized Baghdad Operation spokesman, told al-Sabah that for the 3rd day in a row dozens of displaced families are returning to their homes. 35 families returned in Madain, 7 in hay al-I’ilam and small numbers of families in various districts of Baghdad."

Later reports in the local media indicate that the total number of families that returned home is as high as 130 families across the city, including several families in the, until recently, hopelessly violent district of Hay al-Adl.

...

The progress made so far invites hope and optimism, but it’s still too early to celebrate. Terrorists will keep trying to carry out attacks similar to those in Sadriya or Shorja. They want sow as much death and destruction as they can in order to shake the people’s confidence in the security plan. Such criminals attacks are still quite possible in Baghdad, but even if happen we must not let that stop us from pursuing the objectives of our efforts to stop the death and deterioration, to turn the tide and make progress.

Nobody in Iraq thinks this is a picnic, but many see the sacrifices as a step through determination and into a self-governance that was won at a high price.