No soldiers died in Iraq last month due to new strategy aimed at Iran's proxy war against U.S.

[ClarkUSA]

"... For the first time since the American invasion of Iraq, an entire month has passed without a single United States service member dying... it comes after 14 troops were killed in July, making it the most deadly month for the Americans in three years, and it has occurred amid a frightening campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations from Sunni insurgents that killed hundreds of Iraqis, resurrecting the specter of the worst days of sectarian fighting... American military commanders attribute the drop in deaths to the Iraqi government finally pushing back against Iran and the Shiite militias, as well as aggressive unilateral strikes by United States forces.

<snip>

“The militia groups involved are being paid by the Iranians to make trouble for the Americans, and that means that their main objective is no longer there if the Americans withdraw all their troops,” said Joost Hiltermann, the International Crisis Group’s deputy program director for the Middle East. “It doesn’t mean they won’t exist altogether, but their violence will be harder to justify.”

American military and diplomatic officials said Iraq has not only pressed the militias, but also sent word directly to Tehran to back off on attacks. The Iranians had used the militias, which are primarily based in the southern part of the country and Baghdad, to wage a proxy battle with the Americans for dominance and influence in Iraq. Those militias were responsible for 12 of the 14 deaths in June, many the result of rocket or mortar attacks on military bases... In a single day in July, a base in the southern province of Maysan was attacked with rockets 43 times.

<snip>

Colonel Crissman and other military officials cautioned that the August figures did not mean that Iraq was suddenly safe, either for the United States military or the Iraqis. They said that as the United States began to withdraw its troops in the coming months, there would likely be a resurgence in attacks as militias and insurgents tried to claim responsibility for pushing the Americans out of Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/world/middleeast/01iraq.html

[Enrique]

1. it sounds like we're really leaving

someone correct me if I'm wrong, it's a little confusing, but the U.S. officials quoted here seem to be using this good month as justification for withdrawing. If so, then that's obviously a good thing.

[Major Hogwash]

2. This is just the beginning of a long, long period of chaos in Iraq without as much violence

against American troops while they are still stationed there.
The power vacuum is still evident in Iraq.

[MilesColtrane]

3. I'm afraid you're right.

Bush ripped the lid off of Hell there. The occupation only kept things at a low simmer.

What I want to know is, if civil war breaks out after we leave, will the President be stupid enough to send troops back in to try to quell things.

[sad sally]

4. Not sure Iraq is pushing back against Iran - not when you read stuff like this.

7/26/2011 11:54 AM

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iran has raised its electric power supplies for Iraq to 1,250 megawatts, according to a recent agreement between the two neighboring countries, the Iranian Energy Minister, Majid Namho told the semi-official Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.

Mehr quoted the Iranian Minister, in a meeting in Tehran with Iraq’s Electricity Minister, Raad Shallal Saeed al-Any, that “Iran’s power exports for Iraq, now estimated at 800 megawatts, are expected to rise to 1,250 megawatts, according to a decision taken by both countries recently.”

The Iranian Minister pointed out to the “close achievement of a 400-megawatt line – Karkha-Amara – during the current summer season, being part of electric power exports for Iraq.”

The Iraqi side has confirmed necessity to construct the Khorramshahr-Abuflous line, expected to be completed in summer, 2012, through sending a technical team and the settling of the suspended problems, in order to increase Iran’s electric power for Iraq to 1,250 megawatts.