Somtimes too much detail in "open source" is a bad thing.
It is always operationally difficult to determine when a conflict has migrated from primarily a military campaign to a police action.
ROEs are a good indicator. The more restrictions placed on soldiers by their commanders as to the use of force, the more it is an operational indicator that the area has lost its tactical significance to the enemy.
Many parts of Iraq are in “permanent green” status, in which not only are there no incidents, but such little interest to the US military that it has been wholly turned over to Iraqi control.
“Permanent yellow” areas are like large, undefended border where enemy may cross, but not in great enough number to be defended in force all the time. Again they are static to the point where they will only change status when larger issues are taken care of.
“Red areas” in Iraq are known to be Diyala, Anbar and Baghdad.
Anbar is rapidly transitioning to yellow, but still needs serious application of force up the Euphrates River Valley, to insure it is stabilized, and that the Syrian flow of enemy has been curtailed. Neither of these could be depicted on a map in any way that would jeopardize ongoing operations.
Diyala and Baghdad are the most problematic to depict in the broad sense, Diyala more as a percentage of the region that has come under control. But Baghdad can be looked at as its parts, districts with wide variation in character, and it is commonly shown as such in maps.
Some Baghdad districts have more incidents, but this may not be indicative of where the attacks originated. A seemingly peaceful district may be a nest of vipers, with a more violent one just the victim. And this needs to be depicted and explained.
But again, operationally it has little meaning. If you were on the street in Baghdad, talking to someone familiar with the city, he could possibly tell you which of the districts are where the troublemakers are based, who is attacked most often, and where most of the military activity is concentrated—where the current push is.
While normally, this last would be the most operationally important, in this case, the clearing of Baghdad is being done in a methodical manner. It is no great secret to anyone who is there, except as to the exact times and places. Its impulse cannot be stopped or tempered, and its gains are fairly permanent.
So each day, the situation becomes more and more a police action, with appropriate changes in the ROEs to reflect the new reality. And while certainly there will always remain operational information not to be published, there is a lot more that should be out there, to back up the enthusiasm and optimism with facts, as much as some would like to ignore them.