NEW YORK With the "surge" report due next week, the U.S. military's claim that violence has decreased sharply in Iraq in recent months "has come under scrutiny from many experts within and outside the government, who contend that some of the underlying statistics are questionable and selectively ignore negative trends," The Washington Post's Karen DeYoung reveals today.
The Post carries her detailed report on page A16. "Reductions in violence form the centerpiece of the Bush administration's claim that its war strategy is working," DeYoung observes. But she adds: "Others who have looked at the full range of U.S. government statistics on violence, however, accuse the military of cherry-picking positive indicators and caution that the numbers -- most of which are classified -- are often confusing and contradictory. 'Let's just say that there are several different sources within the administration on violence, and those sources do not agree,' Comptroller General David Walker told Congress on Tuesday in releasing a new Government Accountability Office report on Iraq."
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003635908
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