Despite claims to the contrary, almost all assessments point to reduced violence in Iraq since the surge began in June, from military, Iraqi government, and third parties. Some of the violence has shifted, especially to the north. Total numbers killed, despite claims that some deaths are not being counted for not being sectarian or other reasons, including all violent deaths are also down significantly. The New York Times once again gives some of the best and most even handed coverage of the issue:
Still, the trend is similar: both the American and the Iraqi reports note a roughly 50 percent drop in the number of civilians who have been killed since the end of 2006. According to Iraqi government data, the number of civilians nationwide who died as a result of violent causes dropped to about 2,000 in August from about 4,000 in December 2006. American military statistics shows that the number of civilian deaths declined to 1,582 in August from 2,989 in December.
“All major categories of violence have been trending downward over the course of the year, according to most primary data sources, be they American, Iraqi or nongovernmental,” said Michael O’Hanlon, the senior author of the Iraq Index, a database on Iraq maintained by the Brookings Institution. “This includes the overall civilian fatality count from all violent causes.”
Iraq Body Count, a British-based nongovernmental group that monitors civilian deaths, notes that the number of civilians who were killed by shootings, executions and bombs has declined from January through July. The organization says its August figures are not yet available. Despite the reduction, the group notes that violence still runs high.
Still horrendous carnage, but denying the progress serves no purpose. Hopefully if the operations in the north are as effective as those around Baghdad we will see yet more improvement along with the surprising drop in coalition casualties. The question is where will they flee to next?
[tags] Iraq, war, casualties, civilian casualties, Brookings, Iraq Body Count, O’ Hanlon [/tags]
Surly you jest.
The DNC has plenty of reasons to deny progress.
At first I thought you meant to write surely, then I figured, no, that is probably right. Agreed, I jest, and it does make me surly;^)