Hmmm -- I thought securing Baghdad was the key to securing Iraq. Well, conventional wisdom, meet reality:

U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq Still Mostly Outside Capital

About two-thirds of the deaths among American troops in Iraq in October occurred outside Baghdad, even with a sharp increase in combat deaths in the capital that made it the fourth deadliest month of the war for the United States, Defense Department figures show....

The spike in violence in the capital was accompanied by higher tolls in other parts of the country, notably in Anbar Province, where 37 Americans died and deaths have climbed steadily since this summer....

Oh, and while we're debunking CW, it appears that Bush and Cheney are lying about the recent spike in violence:

The jump in combat deaths in October mirrored the annual rise in violence that coincides with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Military officers and civilian analysts rejected assertions by some Bush administration officials that the insurgents had planned offensives to influence the elections in the United States next Tuesday....

Lt. Col. Jonathan B. Withington, an Army spokesman for the multinational division responsible for Baghdad and central Iraq, ... also cited Ramadan....

...Michael S. White ...of ICasualties.org ... wrote, "The current spike, which is indeed the highest in a year, occurred during Ramadan, as did the last spike of comparable magnitude a year ago." He added: "This Ramadan spike is not a one-time phenomenon. It is the fourth that we have experienced since the war began." ...