Bush's Surge of Death: Iraq Body Count Running at Double Pace

[rodeodance]

Bush's Surge of Death: Iraq Body Count Running at Double Pace


http://www.buzzflash.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq-Counting-the-Dead.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

August 26, 2007
Iraq Body Count Running at Double Pace
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 2:23 a.m. ET

BAGHDAD (AP) -- This year's U.S. troop buildup has succeeded in bringing violence in Baghdad down from peak levels, but the death toll from sectarian attacks around the country is running nearly double the pace from a year ago.

Some of the recent bloodshed appears the result of militant fighters drifting into parts of northern Iraq, where they have fled after U.S.-led offensives. Baghdad, however, still accounts for slightly more than half of all war-related killings -- the same percentage as a year ago, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

The tallies and trends offer a sobering snapshot after an additional 30,000 U.S. troops began campaigns in February to regain control of the Baghdad area. It also highlights one of the major themes expected in next month's Iraq progress report to Congress: some military headway, but extremist factions are far from broken.

In street-level terms, it means life for average Iraqis appears to be even more perilous and unpredictable.

The AP tracking includes Iraqi civilians, government officials, police and security forces killed in attacks such as gunfights and bombings, which are frequently blamed on Sunni suicide strikes. It also includes execution-style killings -- largely the work of Shiite death squads........

[Henny Penny]

1. According to the AP, last year 33 Iraqis died every day

from political violence and this year so far, after the surge... 62 Iraqis have died every day from political violence.

Juan Cole has an interesting column today where he points out that 24,400 Iraqis have been detained and 85% of these are Sunni Muslims. Most of the remaining 15% are Shia Mehdi supporters. The latter are very anti-Iranian and so Bush's argument that Iran is behind all the problems in Iraq is shown up as the total horse shit you suspected it to be.

"I read 85 percent of detainees being Sunni as meaning that most attacks were in Sunni Arab neighborhoods and so those arrested were from that community. Iran is not backing Iraqi Sunni Arabs because it could not do so without essentially collaborating in attacks on Iraqi Shiites (it is a different situation than Palestine, where there are no Shiites and there therefore is no downside to supporting Hamas).

The NYT says that of the 24,400, only 1800 openly say that they are "al-Qaeda." That is about 7 percent of the whole. Another 6,000, or about a fourth, say they are takfiris, i.e. Salafis who are willing to excommunicate Shiites from Islam and to declare them non-Muslims.

The conclusion is that the vast majority (certainly 2/3s report themselves as neither al-Qaeda nor takfiri). Even if we exclude the Shiites, a majority may well not even be religious."



http://www.juancole.com/


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And needless to say, the claims that the surge are working are shown to be equally false... it seems the surge has not quashed the insurgency, it has merely displaced it.

[rodeodance]

2. yes, cause they say violence down in BAGHDAD and do NOT mention the whole of IRAQ