The Fort Lewis commander serving as the American military's second-in-command in Iraq said this week that the violence has dramatically declined but taken a decidedly political tone ahead of January's parliamentary elections.

"Numbers of attacks are not quite as relevant as targets of attacks," Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby said. "What we're really seeing right now is that almost everything in Iraq now — from insurgent activity to economic activity to political activity to the things we see impacting from outside of Iraq — are all shaped by the upcoming election. It is truly an election-year mentality. The remaining insurgents are trying to make political statements as much as they are military progress."

Fort Lewis' I Corps is about halfway through its deployment as Multi-National Corps-Iraq, which is running daily American military operations throughout the country. Jacoby, who has commanded I Corps and Fort Lewis since 2007, is home on two weeks of leave that each deployed soldier receives.

Multi-National Force-Iraq is the overarching unit under which all American forces fall and runs the military's strategic operations. MNC-I is a step lower; it's in charge of running daily operations and supporting subordinate units.

The 1,000 soldiers of I Corps took the reins of MNC-I in April; it's the first time since the Korean War that I Corps has deployed during wartime.

The war in Iraq has a Fort Lewis flavor to it, with about 13,000 of the post's troops in the Middle East. The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division and 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are deployed to Iraq, as is the 17th Fires Brigade, the 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade and a handful of smaller units.

In an interview in his office on post, Jacoby said the nature of the fighting in Iraq has meant the American military has redefined how it views progress in the country.

He measures the corps' success halfway through its deployment in two ways: the ongoing partnership with the Iraqi armed forces and the smooth pullout of American troops from cities and towns by June 30, a move that was part of the security agreement between Washington, D.C., and Baghdad.

"Tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers left Iraqi cities, turned over responsibility of security to Iraqi security forces and did it in a very professional, very effective way that maintained and sustained security," Jacoby said. "We did it in a way that caught the enemy off guard, protected the force and maintained security for the population."

About 120,000 American troops remain in Iraq, and attacks across the country have dropped to their lowest levels since the invasion. Jacoby's chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Peter Bayer, said in an interview earlier this month that Iraq is seeing an average of 16 to 25 attacks per day over the past six months.

During the height of the violence, insurgents would launch hundreds of attacks daily, Bayer said. This year has seen 128 American military fatalities, the lowest of any year since the invasion.

"There is no single insurgent group that can reverse what's been done in terms of security," Jacoby said. "They'll try to make their mark, their impact politically."

Insurgents most commonly attack Iraqi civilians and the Iraqi security forces, he said.

"I'm encouraged by the precipitous drop in U.S. casualties, but I'm still troubled by the number of civilian casualties generated by high-profile attacks," he said. "We see the terrorists, the extremists go after marketplaces when they can. They go after large gatherings — people coming out of mosques. We see fewer high-profile attacks than in the past, but we see them creating a large number of casualties."

But American troops still conduct combat operations throughout Iraq — specifically outside of Mosul, along the Syrian and Iranian borders and in areas around Baghdad.

"Our work's not done in Iraq," Jacoby said.

Redirect rumors false, Jacoby says

Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby quashed rumors that one of the two Fort Lewis Stryker brigades serving in Iraq could be redirected to Afghanistan.

Rumors have circulated on post that one of the brigades could be moved in the midst of its deployment. They seemed to intensify after the top American military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, requested 40,000 more troops to combat the Taliban insurgency.

If a brigade does get redirected, it's news to Jacoby.

"No rumors (among the military brass) of that," he said. "And I should be the first to know."

The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, and the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are in the beginning months of a yearlong deployment to Iraq.

Fort Lewis' other Stryker brigade — 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division — is fighting in southern Afghanistan. It was originally scheduled to serve in Iraq but received new orders in February.

"Those kinds of things do become concerning, and people worry," Jacoby said. "So I'm glad I have the opportunity to say I haven't heard anything."