US auditor queries military Iraq casualty figures

[Barrett808]

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An independent US government auditor on Friday cast doubt on US military statistics expected to show a huge dip in sectarian violence in Iraq under the current troop surge strategy.

Comptroller General David Walker said there was a "significant difference" of approach between the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which he heads, and Pentagon evaluations of violence in Iraq.

"The primary difference between us and the military is whether or not violence has been reduced with regard to sectarian violence," Walker told the Senate Armed Services committee.

A GAO report published this week on 18 benchmarks for progress for the Iraqi government set down in law by Congress, found that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's administration had failed to reach targets for cutting violence.

"It is unclear whether sectarian violence in Iraq has decreased -- a key security benchmark," the report said, pointing to the difficulty in judging whether a killing was sectarian or criminal in nature.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070907/pl_afp/usiraqpolitics

[TomInTib]

1. They are not counting Sunnis killed by Sunnis or Shiites killed by Shiites..

or people killed by car bombs or people shot in the front of the head.

See, it is really very simple - if someone is shot in the back of the head, it is "sectarian" violence, and a shot to the forehead is "criminal" violence.

Krugman has a great account of this bs in today's NYT.

[grytpype]

2. What if they're shot through the side of the head?

I guess that's a judgment call to be left to the commanders on the ground!

[gratuitous]

3. That would be poor aim by the criminal

So it doesn't count, either.

[HuffleClaw]

4. they haven't been reporting accurate truthful figures about ANYTHING since bush took office

they either 'adjust' the figures, change the way they collect the data, outright lie or when that fails refuse to release the reports.

[daleo]

5. Sectarian violence is way down

But, oddly, there was an offsetting rise in the suicide rate.