Improvement in Iraq

[Ser Clegane]

Interesting article, Lemur.

Just a couple of days ago I read an article that had a similar tenor:
An Iraq Town Shrugs Off Terror

The following snippet hints at one answer to the first of your questions:

(1) What is causing the slowdown in chaos and carnage

"At some point, people simply had enough," Subhi says. The men in the town wanted a future for their families and decided the path to that future involved working with, rather than against, the Americans. Whereas before, people had been paralyzed with fear, they began informing US troops about insurgents' activities. Others would speak up if they saw suspicious-looking characters on the streets of Rawah.

People seem to realize that many of the insurgents in Iraq are not fighting for the people of Iraq but for their own cause. And not only seem people to realize that - they also start to act on this realization.