Which I was surprised to see in a Sunday week-ender shit-eating edition.
Week-ender could rightly wonder where all these numbers came from, since week-ender shit-eaters get an even more censored violence report than us daily shit-eaters of MSM droppings.
Oh, yeah, and fuck the numbers 'cause the surge is working!!!
"Iraqi civilian deaths rose in August; Monthly total was second highest of year" by Robert H. Reid/Associated Press September 2, 2007
BAGHDAD - Civilian deaths rose in August to their second-highest monthly level this year, according to figures compiled yesterday by the Associated Press. That raises questions about whether US strategy is working. US military officials have insisted that the security plan launched early this year have brought a decrease in attacks on civilians and sectarian killings.
Figures compiled by the AP from police reports nationwide show that at least 1,809 civilians were killed across the country last month compared with 1,760 in July. That brings to 27,564 the number of Iraqi civilians killed since the AP began collecting data on April 28, 2005.
Civilian deaths reached a high point during the wave of sectarian bombings, kidnappings, and killings at the end of last year - 2,172 in December and 1,967 in the previous month.
Ambassador Ryan Crocker predicted yesterday that there will be no "fundamental or quick change" in the US policy on Iraq and appealed for patience.
Speaking in Arabic on Iraqi state television, he said the US administration believes Iraqis have made tangible progress:
"Since 2003, there has been a stable policy by the American administration and I don't think there will be a fundamental or quick change in the American policy or stand on Iraq."
Crocker also said Iraqis "and the friends of Iraq" should show patience as the country grapples with its political and security crisis:
"After 35 years of injustice under Saddam Hussein, there are some problems since liberation and the problems of 40 years cannot be solved in a year or two."
[Yup, all this is Saddam's fault!
I really am sick of AmeriKa's blame-shifting and lying, let me tell you, reader.
In what should have been the EASIEST OCCUPATION in HISTORY -- and the U.S. FUCKED IT UP!]
Civilian death tolls have been creeping back toward levels approaching those during the worst of the sectarian slaughter. May was the deadliest month for Iraqi civilians this year, with 1,901 people killed in political or sectarian violence.
Measuring success of the troop surge is complex, and the numbers are often subject to different interpretation. Despite the high nationwide totals, Gen. David Petraeus was quoted Friday as saying the troop increase has sharply reduced sectarian killings in Baghdad.
Petraeus was quoted by The Australian newspaper as saying:
"If you look at Baghdad, which is hugely important because it is the center of everything in Iraq, you can see the density plot on ethno-sectarian deaths. It's a bit macabre, but some areas were literally on fire with hundreds of bodies every week and a total of 2,100 in the month of December '06, Iraq-wide. It is still much too high but we think in August in Baghdad it will be as little as one quarter of what it was."
"Civilian Death Toll Falls in Baghdad but Rises Across Iraq" by JAMES GLANZ
BAGHDAD, Sept. 1 — Newly released statistics for Iraqi civilian deaths in August reflect the strikingly mixed security picture that has emerged from a gradual six-month increase in American troop strength here: the number of deaths across the country rose by about 20 percent since July, but in the capital itself, the number dropped sharply.
The figures, provided by Iraqi Interior Ministry officials on Saturday, mirrored the geographic pattern of the troop increase, which is focused on Baghdad.
Haidar al-Ebadi, who sits in Parliament as a senior member of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s Dawa Party:
“We were hoping the figures would go down, but what happened was expected. I believe that we should not read these numbers as an assessment of the security plan. The security plan was a success so far.”
The troop increase made it harder for insurgent groups to operate in Baghdad, he said, so they pushed outward to easier targets.
Other Iraqis see the rising violence in the countryside in August as proof that the overall American plan in Iraq is failing.
Saleh al-Mutlak, who leads the National Dialogue Front, a hard-line Sunni group, said the American and Iraqi security plan had failed to achieve its goals, opening the door to more attacks:
“I think the reason is the loss of confidence in the security plan and the political process, which drove people to become desperate and resort to violence.”
American and Iraqi government officials here are extremely reluctant to provide regular, comprehensive figures for civilian deaths, making it difficult to compile accurate data. But figures provided to The New York Times by an Interior Ministry official who asked to remain anonymous indicated that 2,318 civilians died violently in the country in August, compared with 1,980 in July.
Statistics compiled from Iraqi government sources by Reuters and The Associated Press also showed significant increases, although the precise figures varied. But the figures provided by the Interior Ministry official show a drop in deaths within Baghdad, to 656 in August from 896 in July.
Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the American-led multinational forces here, said the troop increase had been intended to give Iraqi political parties a chance to settle some of their differences:
“The surge of operations was focused on improving security in Baghdad, and we have seen some progress — not as much as we want. It’s a neighborhood-by-neighborhood thing. But it’s progress.”
[Remember the fighting house-to-house scenario we were told wouldn't happen?
Well, it's happening and it is now "SUCCESSFUL PROGRESS!"
No wonder so many Iraqis are being killed!]
Even as the mortality figures suggested improvements in security within Baghdad, fresh signs emerged of turmoil within the Baghdad police force, which will ultimately be called upon to sustain any gains.
American soldiers and Iraqi national police officers have disbanded the force at a local police station in Khadra, a Sunni-dominated neighborhood in western Baghdad, the United States military said in a statement on Saturday. The officers at the station failed to stop criminal and insurgent activity in the area, and roadside bombs were often found less than 100 yards from police checkpoints, the military said.
The role of the national police force in the local cleanup was jarring, given its own reputation for disloyalty and inefficiency. American officials said Thursday that an independent commission created by Congress would recommend overhauling the national police to purge it of Shiite militia members and corrupt officers."
[Hey, THAT'S PROGRESS!!]
