Media reports of Iraqi bloodshed focus overwhelmingly on Baghdad – where the large majority of foreign journalists are based – creating the impression that the desperate security situation there is representative of the country as a whole. But in the Kurdish-controlled areas of the north and Shiite-dominated provinces in the south, levels of crime and deadly violence compare favorably with those in many cities in the United States.
抱有阻止暴力活动将会胜利的乐观态度并非全无道理。媒体对伊拉克流血事件的报导大部分集中在巴格达¾这里是绝大部分外国记者的聚集地¾¾留给人的印象是那里毫无希望的安全局势是伊拉克全国局势的缩影。但在库尔德人控制的北部地区和什叶派占绝对优势的南部省份，犯罪情况和致命的暴力事件与美国的不少城市相比也毫不逊色。