Security operations in Baghdad are set to begin in earnest at any time, if they haven’t already. The joint command center is already in place, with 600 American troops for each of the city’s nine districts and two Iraqi generals for each side of the Tigris (Shia to the east, Sunni to the west). According to this brief yet tasty Insta-view with MY, it’ll be like nothing the city has seen before. Yon also tells Glenn and Helen that morale is, surprisingly, “good to high,” which cuts sharply against some of the news from this weekend. I’d pay to see him and Tom Lasseter on a panel comparing notes.

Speaking of blogger embeds, INDC Bill is back in DC and has the first of many posts up about his experiences in Fallujah. Andrew Sullivan’s heart will not ache while reading this one:

Once captured, the Jundi brought the man back to headquarters, where he was put in a corner, blindfolded, and quietly interrogated by two officers.

I slipped into the room, observed for a few minutes and eventually snapped pictures. I asked Fisher if this humane treatment was typical and/or if it was merely a symptom of having the Americans around.

“You’ve got a lot of work to do if you want to change a mindset that’s been forged in their collective memory over half a century. You don’t change that in two years with a couple nice hand outs and a Dale Carnegie course. But when they (the Iraqi Army interrogators) see (humane treatment) works, that’s what sells the product. You can give them brochures and hand outs and well meaning people coming in and talking to them about human rights, but until they see the tangible product that ‘boy this does work, they actually told us what we wanted to know,’ until they see it, they don’t believe it. And that is very much how this country works.”

Lots of photos at the link. Proceed.