A few months ago, I would have figured that the days leading up to the five year anniversary of the start of the current Iraq War would have been filled with news about Iraq.  Instead, Iraq has been a bit player on the newscasts for the most part. Not only has the race for President drowned out a lot of daily coverage about Iraq, but so too has the ups and downs of the US economy.

Hillary Clinton experienced that firsthand on Monday, when a speech at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. hardly got a mention in the press the next day, all because of the most recent intervention by the Federal Reserve.

It wasn't that way a year ago right at this time, when Democrats in Congress began their drive to force a US withdrawal from Iraq.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Election 2008 - the US military surge in Iraq.  Whether you support it or not, you can't argue with a basic reading of American military casualties in Iraq.

They have gone down and stayed at a much lower level since the surge began.  As I have said all along, if that continues, Iraq stays off the radar.  If that numbers goes up, then negative feelings about Iraq will increase.

There will be a number of anti-war marchers in Washington, D.C. today, and not all of them will be venting their spleens at the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

Some will be holding a rally in front of the Democratic National Committee headquarters.  Why?  Because they are aggravated that Democrats haven't done more to end the war.

I remember five years ago very well.  It was just a matter of time until the bombing began, or so it seemed, and much of Official Washington was War Ready.

As he did in the first Persian Gulf War, a buddy of mine who works at a major TV network called me and tipped me off that something was up.  There were no specifics, but it was made clear to me that I needed to get back to work.

As I raced down North Capitol Street, the first bulletin rang out on the news as US cruise missiles had hit Baghdad.

Five years ago, the politics were much different than they are today.   Back then, a reluctant Congress had given President Bush the power to go after Saddam Hussein.

"Five years into this battle, this is an understandable debate over whether the war was worth fighting," Mr. Bush will say this morning at the Pentagon.

"The answers are clear to me: Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision - and this is a fight America can and must win."

It will be a big story today, but with Congress out of town for an Easter break, the response will be muted.  Lawmakers have moved on to a new "big" story, that being the plight of the US economy.