http://icasualties.org/oif/
http://icasualties.org/oif/IraqiDeaths.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Security_Forces
Here is the raw data on Iraq. Seems BW simply cherry picked his data to falsely validate preconceived notions. IF attacks are "as high as they have ever been" they are getting less and less effective. Why were the Iraqis taking higher monthly casualties in 2004 and 2005?
Simply put BW is full of it. He had his mind made up and went to find people who would say what he wanted to hear. This is his act of atonement to the DC Establishment for writing a fairly balanced book on Bush last time.
If you chart the data in the post above, you see a base line of violence. While the violence ebbs and flows the base line is steady. That base line totally undercuts the notion that Iraq is "heading for Civil War" or is "Spinning out of Control" which is the claims of Bob Woodward and other assorted Leftists.
To counter the claim that "We are not making fast enough progress" look at the data on Iraqi security forces. More and more of the job is being taken up by Iraqi forces. 2 of 18 Providence have been turned over to complete Iraqi control. All the progress in the war is on our side. The enemy is making no progress. Time is on our side, not theirs.
Another factor Mr Woodward fails to grasp. Because we have gotten on top of the external Terrorist threat, we are able to focus on other lesser threats. Witness what the British down south, and the US in the Baghdad region, are doing. They are working with the Iraqis to weed out the gangs and militia that sprung up in the wake of Saddam's fall.
Counter Insurgency is slow, painful work. But the progress is all on our side. The "Insurgents" has demonstrated no ability to politically or militarily evolve. They are still stuck in stage one of Guerrilla Warfare. They can wreck stuff and kill people they cannot grow. They cannot take and hold ground no engage in anything beyond small scale hit and run actions.
Their failure to develop a shadow political structure to act as a polar opposite to the Iraqi Government is their fatal flaw. They simply cannot move beyond state one
The claims and assumptions stated as "fact" by Mr Woodward on Iraq are fraudulent. Considering he got that completely wrong, one has to wonder just what else he make up in this book?