Does it seem like a lot less civilians are getting blown up lately in Iraq?

[NNN0LHI]

Especially since the Iraqi police caught those two British SAS agents dressed up like Iraqis with all the armaments a little while back? Wonder if the Iraqis noticed that? I also noticed bin Ladens # 2 guy sent a love letter to his buds in Iraq telling him not to blow up so many civilians now too. Now that is what I would call convenient and timely. We must be blessed.

Don

[meganmonkey]

1. Interesting observation

I wonder if the statistics show that correlation. It wouldn't surprise me, but I am skeptical about the numbers.

[Hissyspit]

2. Haven't 70 been blown up in the past two days?

Don't have time to check for the stories.

[NNN0LHI]

4. Lot of Iraqi police and soldiers but big civilian bombs seem rare now n/t

[Kagemusha]

3. Elections coming up. Gotta hoard resources for the big bang.

Easier to believe.

[AValdoux]

5. It is still happening...

...its just not being reported on MSM. Our coverage is edited to make Americans feel better even though the rest of the world thinks we are war criminals. After reading Dahr Jamaili's blog and others who are getting independent info from Iraq, the situation in Iraq is actually worse.

I make it a point to read his blog because it is information that you don't get on MSM sights. Also I check antiwar.com everyday. How it is organized by regions with news of the day, it can be a little depressing.


http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/


Avaldoux

[KG]

6. since the media never reports how many civilians the US blows up

every day. it's hard to say.

[Dangerously Amused]

7. Maybe...

...maybe we killed most of them already and there just aren't that many left to kill anymore?

(sarcasm.)



p.s. Thanks for the Iraq Dispatches site above.

[Ksec]

8. 30 today. 50 yesterday

I dont believe thats slowing down IMO.

But regardless, I get yer drift and agree mostly

[NNN0LHI]

11. The 30 today were at an army base

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12613705.htm

[DLnyc]

9. As far as I can tell, there seem to be several separate types of violence

against Iraqis going on. It is true that people are people and all types of violence are killing people, but to understand what the dynamics behind the violence are, it helps, IMHO, to differentiate between:

1. Violence against people seen as 'collaborators' (mostly against people in or training to be in the Iraqi military and/or Iraqi police). It would seem reasonable to surmise that this type of violence is being perpetrated by Iraqi 'patriots' who see any cooperation with the occupation as part of the occupation.

2. Violence against ordinary citizens (typically a bomb in a marketplace, a school or other area where people seem to be a general cross section of society). A reasonable guess here is that the perpetrators want to increase the general sense of fear and chaos. It is problematic, IMO, to say who is behind these kind of attacks. Perhaps Al-Quaeda types who figure chaos will make people more angry at the US, but this seems a little convoluted to me. Perhaps US/British operatives who want to shore up support for their presence by increasing fear; this seems straight-forward but hard to believe they (US/UK) would risk such a monstrous strategy. It is my impression that these types of attacks seem to often NOT be suicide attacks but rather remote control car bombs. Don't know if this is accurate, just my personal impression.

3. 'Ethnic' attacks that seem to target specific groups. Could be fighting between Iraqi groups, or could be provocateurs (American or Arab or . . .) or could be individuals settling scores.

4. Massive bombing of villages, random sweeps and mass arrests, sporadic shootings at checkpoints, etc. This is officially confirmed violence committed by Americans. Its purposes seem to include 'showing strength', trying to stay alive in a bad situation and making sure the last 1953 who died in vain will be honored by a few thousand more dying in vain.

Since American M$M tend to lump 1,2 and 3 together and call all persons affected by 4 'insurgents', one gets only a vague idea of what might be going on in Iraq, IMHO.

[pattim]

10. Not at all.

You know, that "all-out war" on Shi'a, those 80-odd that died in the last two days, the fact that the US press requires bigger and bigger attacks to get any attention...