I had a good discussion with an Army CPT, who is on R-n-R leave from Iraq. He owns battlespace north of Baghdad and said, "the AQ guys are all but gone...unfortunately a lot of them ran away, but some joined SOI; so now they are helping us. We are back to dealing with local farmers that "do insurgent stuff on the side" like back in '03." Good news, but still work to be done.
He mentioned that his dealings with Iraqi officials at the local level aren't going as well. He said, just like 03-07, the local governments are fledgling and aren't capable of functioning. Basically, it seems that we should be satisfied with Arab politics and call it good enough.