Posted on 10/01/2007 5:55:57 AM PDT by PreciousLiberty
BAGHDAD (AFP) - At least 840 civilians were killed in Iraq in September, less than half the toll of the previous month, according to figures compiled by three Iraqi ministries and seen by AFP on Monday.
The monthly toll, which coincides with a drop in September in the number of US soldiers killed in a month, is the lowest this year.
The figure for civilians killed in August was 1,771, significantly higher than the number for February, when the United States launched its "surge" during which it flooded Baghdad and surrounding areas with 28,500 extra troops in a bid to stem sectarian bloodletting.
In that month, 1,626 civilians were killed according to the figures from the health, interior and defence ministries.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
But the libs and the MSM will still call the “Surge” a failure because of the ongoing political stalemate. I have a feeling the Shias will soon be more flexible in their political negotiations with the Sunnis given the close and successful partnership the US has cultivated with Sunni tribes and former insurgent groups. Maliki basically has no choice.
A bad news story from Iraq gets front page above the cover. A good news story from Iraq gets stuck inside the travel and leisure section.
What does it mean when MSM says “killed”?
There are approximately 27 million Iraqis.
How many would one expect to die in a month of natural causes?
In other words how many were “killed” by heart attacks?
I think the drop is too sharp, something more than the surge alone contributing to such abnormal trends. Just weeks ago, Muqtada Al-Sadr claimed he would re-organize his group (including the Mahdi Army), and claimed anyone disobeying orders would be kicked out. I would guess this is one of the factors which local networks of the ethnic cleansing groups within Mahdi Army could not act aggresively risking their power within the Mahdi Army. I see this as a phase of re-organization of Mahdi Army, which should be crushed in the near future when Baghdad becomes 100% secure, at least excluding Al-Sadr city. Another factor I imagine is the preparation of Iran for a war within their territories, meaning Iranian agents (al-Quds force) heading home to prepare for US attacks on Iranian soil, and to crush local uprise. Whatever may be the reason, operation to secure Baghdad should be accelerated to prepare for further operations southward to crush Mahdi Army, kill Muqtada Al Sadr, and ultimately strike Iran.
It is too early to declare the sudden drop is permanent, and what is in the background, but I will mention the data of casualties of all entities (civilians, security force, coalition force) for September are all below average.
Other than Iraqi civilian deaths, casualties of Iraqi Security Force were low, and the deaths of coalition force is the lowest since the begining of the year, and below average of daily deaths. Iraqi security force casualties rank the forth lowest, according to icasualties.org. I have no data yet on oil output, but while it has not reached the primary goal of 6000MW/h (last updated data I have is above 5000MW), recent data on electricty output shows a slow but constant recovery.
Pick your headline:
Harry Reid was seen wimpering in the Halls of the Senate...
General Patraeus has been victorious on the Iraqi front in the War on Terror..
Our victorious brave troops are starting to come home. The Iraqi people have embraced freedom.
George W. Bush recommended for a spot on Rushmore.
Nancy Pelosi’s head explodes as she finally realizes that she was on the wrong side of victory.
Surge worked ping.
oh noes! better put the libs on suicide watch. lol
QUAGMIRE!
Great news, we have won this war.
No doubt.
If we assume an average Iraqi lifespan of 60 years (we’re talking third world here) Iraq should have about 37,500 deaths a month from all causes. Thus, secretarian violence is accounting for a little more than 2 percent of all deaths.
“Looks like the terrorist “surge” is over...on to victory!”
I don’t know why more people don’t understand that point. When we announced our surge, and gave Petraus a September deadline for results, the Jihadis had no option but to try and run a Tet offensive surge and hope they could break us politically like in Vietnam.
Now that the report is done, it may well be that the terrorist blew their wad.
This news made page A14 in today’s WaPo. Not to worry. The story was placed next to a highlighted list of Blackwater misdeeds. I guess the juxtaposition is intended to keep us from an irrational expectation of victory.
Newsflash: Press Biased [Stanley Kurtz]
Today, on the front page of The Washington Post, we see the third in a three-part series on roadside bombs in Iraq. The stories in this series have been centered on the top half of the page and highlighted in red (a device I don’t recall seeing before). Next to that is a huge headline about allegations of killings In Iraq by Blackwater. Below that is a headline that reads “Most in Poll Want War Funding Cut.” Meanwhile deep inside the paper, on page A14, we find the following article: “U.S. and Civilian Deaths Decrease Sharply in Iraq: American Military Credits Troop Influx.” True, nestled between the other screaming headlines on page one, there is a brief minuscule teaser for this far more positive story about Iraq. Yet the bias here is clear.
If the top story is Iraq, then I don’t see how you can put those three stories on the front page, while burying the other one on page 14. Arguably, an actual report of substantial positive progress in Iraq is more important, and more dramatic, than any of those other stories. By rights it ought to have been headlined on page one. The Post seems more interested in fighting our political battle over the Iraq than in reporting on it. So if the poll data the Post is pushing reflects less support for the war than it might, that clearly has a great deal to do with the way biased coverage by the Post is skewing public perceptions of the war. I’m not saying all is well or that success is inevitable–far from it. Yet the relative placement of these stories by the Post is profoundly biased and misleading.
10/02 11:32 AM
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