The change can be summed up in 4 simple words:

troops leave, violence drops

As the deafening hubbub of propaganda drowns out every attempt to talk real policy change on Iraq, this simple descriptive formula–troops leave, violence drops–cuts through it all.

How 4 Words From Basra Will Change Everything

DUHHHH ,  Bush! DUHHH Cheney!  Of course,  they don’t really give a crap about the level of violence.  They just care about keeping  up appearances (or promises or indications) of "progress",  so they and their friends can keep raking in the money through all the exchanges and obscurity going on.  They really don’t care, I think,  how stupid and incompetent they look.  Incompetent and stupid is better than being found to be criminal and having all their profits stopped. As long as they can forestall serious inquiries and investigations,  they keep their wheels of commerce turning.

These things make Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine all the more probable (I didn’t have many doubts about it as I read about it and took Dan’s recommendation. (see number 6 on the list).  That’s one reason I bought the book.  To get some more history of this exploitation carried out by these "free marketeers" .