Attacks on US Troops Down in Iraq - Top General

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031129/ts_nm/iraq_dc&cid=564&ncid=1480

<snip>BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The top military commander in Iraq (news - web sites) said on Saturday attacks against U.S. forces had fallen sharply in recent weeks, despite figures showing November has been the deadliest month for U.S. troops since the war began.

Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez said anti-American insurgents had struck fewer times in the past seven days than in the previous week and put the reduction down to the more aggressive tactics by U.S. forces.

"In the past 14 days, we have seen the daily average of engagements throughout the country decline by over 30 percent," Sanchez told a news conference in Baghdad.

"And over the last seven-day period, we're down to an average of 22 engagements a day," he said, against as many as 50 a day just a couple of weeks ago. "This decline has been most significant where we have taken the fight to the enemy."

Despite the decline in attacks, however, figures from U.S. military officials show at least 72 U.S. soldiers have died in action in November, according to a count by Reuters.

[niyad]

1. the families of the dead and wounded must find such comfort in knowing

that there were fewer, although deadlier, attacks.

the absolute contempt that this administration and its mouthpieces have for the intelligence of the people is disgusting

[Holly]

5. your so right...and more families will be facing this

everytime one of these idiots says attacks are down , the insurgents launch a horrific attack. Will these people never learn, baiting the resistance is BAD...combined with bush's* photo-visit to Iraq, I fear what's next.

[w4rma]

2. I wonder if they are working on something big. (n/t)

[Media_Lies_Daily]

3. Since we're not supposed to be getting any more information from...

...the press and/or the troops in Iraq, how are supposed to verify the claims made by this guy?

Additionally, with more U.S. troops killed this month than in any other month with less Iraqi attacks, does that mean that the Iraqis have gotten more efficient at killing Americans?

Wonderful.

[conservdem]

4. I hope this is acurate and that it only gets better.

[0007]

6. There is a time to duck and a time to cover...

there is a time to run and a time to chase...there is a time for chatter and more chatter and then there's a time to dummy up, (same as a time to flap the lips and a time to zip the lip)

....'tis not hard to figure out, but now I now why they made this idiot a general.

[Bob3]

7. In Guerilla warfrare the Guerilla picks the time and place

And since we are going all over Iraq dropping 2,000 pound bombs on empty housess - the Iraqis are going to go to ground - once we decide we've won (again) and stop the main force actions they will come out of the woodwork again.

I can't tell you how many times I head this kind of thing during the viet nam war - it wasn't true then - and it ain't ture now.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

8. Umm, couldn't have anything to do with Ramadan, could it?

duh

[fishnfla]

9. They called for a week-long cease fire for the end

of Ramadan

[SmokeyBlues]

10. Who you gonna believe?

This from the front page of today's Boston Globe (right along side the other top local news story about the acquisition of pitcher Curt Shilling from Arizona):

Guerrilla war in Iraq spreading
US says attacks on rise outside Sunni Triangle

By Bryan Bender, Globe Correspondent

WASHINGTON -- The guerrilla war in Iraq has moved steadily beyond the so-called Sunni Triangle and into areas of the country once considered peaceful, a potentially ominous development for security forces trying to restore order in the country.

Since the end of major combat operations on May 1, nearly 40 percent of attacks on US and coalition targets have been outside the Sunni Triangle, home to many remnants of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime, according to internal Defense Department reports obtained by the Globe.

The monthly breakdown is classified, but Defense Department officials confirmed that the number of attacks occurring in the far north, south, and far western Iraq -- areas outside the Sunni Triangle, which is immediately north and west of the capital of Baghdad -- has increased in recent months.

***snip***

"We have seen an increase," General Richard B. Myers, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, said on Tuesday, referring to the attacks outside the triangle, though he described the increase as modest and insisted that those attacks were probably due to remnants of Saddam Hussein's government.

Link to Article

[Barrett808]

11. Slope of the curve has apparently decreased in the last few days

http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/USfatalities.html

Are the numbers cooked? Who knows?

[loudnclear]

12. Attacks down but more deadly.

So what does that mean? Pretty soon our own incursions will be down...does that mean we are going away? I am sick to death of the Bushcos trying to paint a rosey picture of Iraq under the Bush regime...our children are being killed for no good reason at all!

[janx]

13. Exactly! It's the deadliest month of the war so far--

this is pure propaganda.

[pistoff democrat]

14. Hi, an apple (Pippin, I believe)

let me know about this thread...well:

This WA Post article is entitled: November Deadliest Month in Iraq

More U.S. troops have died in Iraq in November than in any month since the war began in March, according to Defense Department figures.

cut

About half of the deaths resulted from the downing of four military helicopters, in which 39 soldiers were killed. U.S. aircraft in Iraq have been targeted in the past, but these incidents, involving either a surface-to-air missile or rocket-propelled grenade, marked the first major hits.

Most of the other U.S. combat fatalities occurred in ground attacks by enemy fighters using weapons that have become characteristic of their resistance: guns, rocket-propelled grenades and remote-controlled explosives.

cut

Earlier this week, a senior general with the Coalition Provisional Authority suggested that the rising U.S. casualty rate should not be taken as a sign that the United States is losing the war, especially when compared with enemy casualties.

Note from Pistoff Democrat: Do I smell Vietnam?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19749-2003Nov28.html

[Cush]

15. Attacks on Non Military Targets are up

mentioned on CNN a while ago.

[pippin]

16. General Sanchez is a liar

here's an earlier thread that makes Sanchez a liar

Deaths pile up in Iraq
2 GI fatalities make month deadliest yet

By SUDARSAN RAGHAVAN
Knight Ridder Newspapers


Underscoring the dangers that inspired the secrecy surrounding President Bush's Thanksgiving trip to Iraq, a U.S. soldier was killed Friday, making November the deadliest month so far of the Iraqi engagement.

The soldier died as mortar shells apparently fired by insurgents pounded a 101st Airborne Division base in the northern city of Mosul.

Another American soldier was shot to death on Thanksgiving inside a military base in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, according to a military statement. It was unclear how the shooting took place.

The soldiers' names were not immediately released.

More at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=244933

[DeathvadeR]

17. Sure they are!!!!!!!

"November proves deadliest month yet for U.S. in Iraq"

<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-11-29-iraq-casualties_x.htm>

BAGHDAD (AP) — At least 75 U.S. soldiers have died so far in Iraq in November, making it the deadliest month for American troops since the U.S.-led invasion began on March 20, U.S. military statistics show

A total of 436 U.S. soldiers have died since the start of the war, according to the Pentagon and the latest casualty figures released by the U.S. military in Baghdad. They include 299 soldiers killed in combat, while the others died from other causes such as accidents.

Seventy-five soldiers from other allied nations — including 52 from Britain and 17 from Italy — also have died, bringing the total number of coalition deaths since the war started to more than 500.

[DrBB]

18. Fewer attacks, more deaths. Hm...

So what they're telling us between the lines is that the insurgents are continuing to improve their operations, getting more organized and efficient. Fewer attacks but deadlier, more effective per attack. Doesn't sound like progress to me.

[monobrau]

19. That's because they're hiding

they've pulled the troops back into fortified compounds and are doing less street patrols. Of course there are fewer attacks.

[VolcanoJen]

20. Kick!

:dem: