UTC Things are not this simple There is much dispute over wheather the US succesfully installed a democracy since the new government is becoming more and more authoritarian candidates were banned from recent elections there have been fraud claims during all 3 elections and many human rights violations have taken place Also Iraq s status as a US ally leave alone major US ally is questionable due to the strong ties to Iran of many leading Shi a and Kurdish figures and the growth increasing influence of Muqtada al Sadr s political party Also the insurgency is far from quelled although it s not as deadly as it was around 2006 2007 with at least 4 000 civilians 900 security forces killed this year it is still one of the most deadly insurgencies on earth 19 26 4 January 2011