Does that seem normal, is that the new normal? Petraeus: Level of violence in Iraq tapers toward 'normal'
By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY
U.S. combat deaths in Iraq appear headed to the lowest monthly total since the start of the war as the top U.S. general there said overall violence is declining toward "normal" levels.
Gen. David Petraeus cautioned, however, that the progress still could be reversed. Suicide attacks Monday in Iraq killed more than 50 Iraqis.
"If you could reduce these sensational attacks further, I think you are almost approaching a level of normal or latent violence," Petraeus said in a phone interview Monday from Iraq.
"The fact that the levels of violence have come down so significantly and stayed down now for some two-and-a-half months … indicates there is a degree of durability," Petraeus said.
There have been six U.S. combat deaths so far in July, according to a USA TODAY database. The lowest monthly number was eight in May 2003, slightly more than a month after the invasion. Iraqi civilian deaths also have dropped
Normal?Bomb attacks in Iraq kill at least 56
by Salam Faraj
Mon Jul 28, 3:20 PM ET
Three women bombers blew themselves up on Monday in a crowd of Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad, one of a string of attacks in Iraq that killed at least 56 people, undermining hopes of a drop in violence.
Scores of people were also wounded in the attacks, which came after a relative lull in the sectarian violence that has ravaged Iraq since February 2006, when insurgents blew up a Shiite mosque in the central city of Samarra.
The triple attack in Baghdad killed at least 25 pilgrims as they headed to a holy shrine for a major religious ceremony on the Shiite Muslim calendar that has been marred by bloodshed in the past, security officials said.
Another 27 people died and 126 others were wounded in a suicide bombing during a protest rally in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, and by gunfire in a panicked stampede that followed, local officials said.
Among the dead in Baghdad were women and children, security and hospital officials told AFP, adding that about 70 other people were wounded.
The violence was condemned by the White House.
"The United States condemns the violent attacks on innocent Iraqis," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
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