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Casualty Counts
contentions ^ | 8.1.2007 | Max Boot

Posted on 08/01/2007 8:29:47 AM PDT by Contentions

Critics of the troop surge have been arguing that it isn’t making any difference on the ground—the only thing it’s doing, they claim, is driving up American casualties. The facts are starting to contradict their claims.

I’ve recently posted a couple of items noting that reliable on-the-ground observers—namely Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack of The Brookings Institution and John Burns of the New York Times—have found that violence against Iraqis is falling. Now comes news that the number of American casualties is also declining, at least temporarily.

There were spikes in the number of Americans killed in action in April (104), May (126), and June (101)—up from 83 in January, 81 in February, and 81 in March. The increases were to be expected because this was the period when more American troops were arriving in Iraq, and were starting to go on the offensive against Shiite and Sunni insurgents. All along, the theory behind the surge was that while there might be a short-term spike in casualties, eventually, as the troops started to get the situation under better control, our losses would decline.

(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: brookings; commentary; contentions; johnfburns; kennethpollack; maxboot; michaelohanlon; wot

1 posted on 08/01/2007 8:29:50 AM PDT by Contentions
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To: Contentions

They should compare a few thousand in one day to the number of casualties during this war.


2 posted on 08/01/2007 8:33:19 AM PDT by wastedyears (Freedom is the right of all sentient beings - Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime)
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To: Contentions

man...... prayers for all those and their families that gave all.


3 posted on 08/01/2007 8:36:01 AM PDT by VaRepublican (I would propagate tag lines but I don't know how...)
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To: Contentions

OH no..........you mean that our troops are at war and we are having casualties? I’ll be darned. Never knew that could happen. Bunch of idiots.


4 posted on 08/01/2007 8:43:54 AM PDT by RC2
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