if you believe that the major war against islam extremists will be decided in iraq , you might be interested in reading the article i posted in the thread :
PAKISTAN - WILL THE LID BLOW OFF SOON ?
...
ican We are seen by many Muslims as the "malignancy of the human race." Your perception is as extreme.
ican :
of course you are free to believe that pakistan is not a major base for the taleban .
you neither have to believe that many actions of the pakistani government - supported with plenty of money by the american taxpayer - are driving underpriviliged pakistanis into the taleban camp .
i believe , however , that musharref's actions of finding accomodation with the taleban are stronger than his statements of fighting the taleban actively - as he so often declares .
one of the first things i was taught after coming to canada was : WORDS ARE CHEAP ! (and that wasn't taught in school !) .
so far , we are all entitled to our own opinions and beliefs .
hbg
General Petraeus will report in September both the successes and failures in Iraq. Even if he reports mostly failures,
Korb: Petraeus Cannot Be Trusted To Give Unbiased Assessment On Iraq
Both Democrats and Republicans have begun rallying around a September deadline to reassess Bush's Iraq strategy. Whether the September reassessment successfully results in a drawdown currently depends on whether Gen. David Petraeus, the commanding general in Iraq, issues a candid report about the deteriorating conditions resulting from the escalation. Already, Petraeus has said that his report will not say "anything definitive."
Center for American Progress Senior Fellow and former Reagan Pentagon official Lawrence Korb writes in the Philadelphia Inquirer today that Petraeus cannot be trusted to deliver an unbiased report:
Many lawmakers will formulate their position on the basis of a coming report from Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the multinational force, to the president. Unfortunately, based on behavior in his last command in Iraq and the manner in which he received his current position, Petraeus is not a reliable source for an unbiased assessment.
As evidence, Korb cites the fact that just before the 2004 election, Petraeus wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post proclaiming there was "tangible progress" because Iraqi forces were "stepping forward." Korb writes, "If Petraeus wrote on his own initiative, he was injecting himself improperly into a political campaign. If he was encouraged or even allowed to do this by his civilian superiors, he was allowing himself to be used for partisan political purposes."
That wasn't an isolated incident. Patreaus has allowed himself to be used as a "political prop" to support the White House's war czar nominee. And, Petraeus has echoed President Bush's line that al Qaeda, not sectarian civil war, is the greatest threat in Iraq ?- an assessment that contradicts the intelligence.
In light of the concerns over Patraeus, Korb suggests a worthy solution for Congress to consider:
The answer is to have an independent assessment by an outside group, like the Iraq Study Group, but not including members of that group who might also have an ax to grind. The House and Senate each should appoint one member and the administration another. Only then can we be sure that we will get an unbiased assessment, and that this country will come to grips with the real situation in Iraq.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) warned yesterday that Petraeus will come back in September with a desire to prolong the war. To make sure Congress has unbiased information, it should seek independent counsel.
UPDATE: Third Way has also recommended the appointment of "an independent commission to study the success or failure of the surge in September and report back to Congress."
Report Finds Little Progress On Iraq Goals
Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration.
The strikingly negative GAO draft, which will be delivered to Congress in final form on Tuesday, comes as the White House prepares to deliver its own new benchmark report in the second week of September, along with congressional testimony from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. They are expected to describe significant security improvements and offer at least some promise for political reconciliation in Iraq.
The draft provides a stark assessment of the tactical effects of the current U.S.-led counteroffensive to secure Baghdad. "While the Baghdad security plan was intended to reduce sectarian violence, U.S. agencies differ on whether such violence has been reduced," it states. While there have been fewer attacks against U.S. forces, it notes, the number of attacks against Iraqi civilians remains unchanged. It also finds that "the capabilities of Iraqi security forces have not improved."
"Overall," the report concludes, "key legislation has not been passed, violence remains high, and it is unclear whether the Iraqi government will spend $10 billion in reconstruction funds," as promised. While it makes no policy recommendations, the draft suggests that future administration assessments "would be more useful" if they backed up their judgments with more details and "provided data on broader measures of violence from all relevant U.S. agencies."
A GAO spokesman declined to comment on the report before it is released. The 69-page draft, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, is still undergoing review at the Defense Department, which may ask that parts of it be classified or request changes in its conclusions. The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, normally submits its draft reports to relevant agencies for comment but makes its own final judgments. The office has published more than 100 assessments of various aspects of the U.S. effort in Iraq since May 2003.
The person who provided the draft report to The Post said it was being conveyed from a government official who feared that its pessimistic conclusions would be watered down in the final version -- as some officials have said happened with security judgments in this month's National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq. Congress requested the GAO report, along with an assessment of the Iraqi security forces by an independent commission headed by retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, to provide a basis for comparison with the administration's scorecard. The Jones report is also scheduled for delivery next week.
Asked to comment on the GAO draft, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, "General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker are there on the ground every day in Iraq, and it's important to wait to hear what they have to say." He disputed any suggestion that the July White House assessment did not consider all internal views, noting that it resulted from "a lengthy and far-reaching process throughout the State and Defense departments and other agencies."
Johndroe emphasized that "while we've all seen progress in some areas, especially on the security front, it's not surprising the GAO would make this assessment, given the difficult congressionally mandated measurement they had to follow."
President Bush signed legislation in May that requires him to submit by Sept. 15 an assessment of whether the government of Iraq is "achieving progress" toward the benchmarks. The interim July report determined that satisfactory progress was being made toward eight of the 18 benchmarks, most of them on the security front. It found unsatisfactory progress toward eight others and presented a mixed picture on the remaining two.
The May legislation imposed a stricter standard on the GAO, requiring an up-or-down judgment on whether each benchmark has been met. On that basis, the GAO draft says that three of the benchmarks have been met while 13 have not. Despite its strict mandate, the GAO draft concludes that two benchmarks -- the formation of governmental regions and the allocation and expenditure of $10 billion for reconstruction -- have been "partially met." Little of the allocated money, it says, has been spent.
One of eight political benchmarks -- the protection of the rights of minority political parties in the Iraqi legislature -- has been achieved, according to the draft. On the others, including legislation on constitutional reform, new oil laws and de-Baathification, it assesses failure.
"Prospects for additional progress in enacting legislative benchmarks have been complicated by the withdrawal of 15 of 37 members of the Iraqi cabinet," it says. An internal administration assessment this month, the GAO says, concluded that "this boycott ends any claim by the Shi'ite-dominated coalition to be a government of national unity." An administration official involved in Iraq policy said that he did not know what specific interagency document the GAO was citing but noted that it is an accurate reflection of the views of many officials.
Overall, the draft report, titled "Securing, Stabilizing and Rebuilding Iraq," says that the Iraqi government has met only two security benchmarks. It contradicts the Bush administration's conclusion in July that sectarian violence was decreasing as a result of the U.S. military's stepped-up operations in Baghdad this year. "The average number of daily attacks against civilians remained about the same over the last six months; 25 in February versus 26 in July," the GAO draft states.
Iraqi security forces are also assessed more severely in the GAO study than in the administration's July report. Although the White House found satisfactory progress toward the goal of deploying three Iraqi army brigades in Baghdad, the GAO disagrees, citing "performance problems" in some units. "Some army units sent to Baghdad have mixed loyalties, and some have had ties to Shiia militias making it difficult to target Shiia extremist networks," it says.
The GAO draft also says that the number of Iraqi army units capable of operating independently declined from 10 in March to six last month. The July White House report mentioned a "slight" decline in capable Iraqi units, without providing any numbers. The GAO also says, as did the White House in July, that the Iraqi government has intervened in military activities for political reasons, "resulting in some operations being based on sectarian interests." But its discussion of Iraqi security forces is often veiled, as when it states that the determination that the security forces benchmark was not met "was based largely on classified information."
The description of the Iraqi military's shortcomings contrasts with comments from many senior U.S. commanders who say that they are pleased with its progress. "Although we still have a ways to go, Iraqi security forces are making significant, tangible improvements," Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said earlier this month.
But Army Lt. Gen. James Dubik, who in June became the commander of the U.S. troops training and advising Iraqi army and police units, struck a more somber note yesterday in a news conference in Baghdad. "The problems that the military commanders and the minister of defense have here in generating the Iraqi army are very significant, and they shouldn't be taken lightly," he said.
08.30.2007
Washington DC
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Harry Reid
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Steny Hoyer
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable John Boehner
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Madam Speaker , Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader McConnell, and Minority Leader Boehner,
Despite recent press reports that the GAO will soon report that "while the Baghdad security plan was intended to reduce sectarian violence, U.S. agencies differ on whether such violence has been reduced," and the Associated Press indicates that, "sectarian violence has actually doubled in 2007," US officials have recently claimed that violence is down and specifically civilian deaths in Iraq have decreased. No evidence has been provided to the public that supports this claim. This assertion follows a bloody month for civilians in Iraq including a bombing that killed more than 400 people and is the deadliest attack of the war.
As the Iraq Study Group stated in its report, "Good policy is difficult to make when information is systematically collected in a way that minimizes its discrepancy with policy goals." The ISG's own findings, and other recent reports, indicate that civilian deaths in Iraq are routinely being underreported.
* "The average number of daily attacks against civilians remained about the same over the last six months" states a draft version of the Government Accountability Office provided to the Washington Post. [Washington Post, 8/30/07 ]
* The Associated Press has reported that sectarian violence has actually doubled in 2007 [AP, 8/26/07 ]
* Iraqi government has refused to report civilian death toll numbers to the United Nations agency responsible for collecting this information since January. This means more than 8 months of civilian deaths have gone unreported by an outside observer.
* The Iraq Study Group confirmed that in the past U.S. military officials routinely underreported civilian death. [McClatchy, 12/06/06 ]
* Disparities in death tolls reported by the government and eyewitness accounts cause some to charge that the government is intentionally downplaying or trying to cover up the number of dead. [Christian Science Monitor, 8/03/07 ]
* U.S. officials have claimed that death tolls have diminished in Baghdad, but have failed to provide documentation to the media that would support this assertion. [McClatchy, 8/15/07 ]
We write to respectfully suggest inquiry and attention into the exact nature and methodology that is being used to track the security situation in Iraq and specifically the assertions that sectarian violence is down. Not only is accurate reporting the key to sound policy, it is also the responsibility of government to those who have lost loved ones to this horrific conflict.
Furthermore, in order to make good policy going forward, it is imperative to American policy makers, Iraqi government officials, and the American people to have an accurate understanding of the impact of the President's "surge" on Iraq's civil war and the civilian population. Accurate portrayal of the scope of sectarian violence in Iraq is critical to making a complete assessment of the President's escalation strategy, designed to provide space for political resolution to sectarian disputes. It is imperative that these statistics are accurately reported?-and reported soon?-as the Congress evaluates the White House's September 15th report and the future of the US engagement in Iraq..
We owe it to the Iraqis, and to ourselves, to have as full accounting as possible.
Thank you for considering our views.
Mort Abramowitz
Former US Ambassador and Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation
Rand Beers
President, National Security Network
Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, 1998-2002
Morton H. Halperin
Executive Director
Open Society Policy Center
Harold Hongju Koh
Dean and Smith Professor of International Law, Yale Law School Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 1998-2001
William Perry
US Secretary of Defense, 1994-1997
John Shattuck
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, 1993-98, Ambassador to the Czech Republic, 1998-2000, CEO, John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Anne-Marie Slaughter
Dean, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Dan Spiegel
US Ambassador to the UN Agencies in Geneva, 1993-1996
Jessica Stern
Academic Director, Program on Terrorism and the Law, Harvard University School of Law
Cc:
The Honorable Joseph Biden
The Honorable Richard Lugar
The Honorable Carl Levin
The Honorable John McCain
The Honorable Tom Lantos
The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
The Honorable Ike Skelton
The Honorable Duncan Hunter
August 31, 2007
Panel Will Urge Broad Overhaul of Iraqi Police
By DAVID S. CLOUD
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 ?- An independent commission established by Congress to assess Iraq's security forces will recommend remaking the 26,000-member national police force to purge it of corrupt officers and Shiite militants suspected of complicity in sectarian killings, administration and military officials said Thursday.
The commission, headed by Gen. James L. Jones, the former top United States commander in Europe, concludes that the rampant sectarianism that has existed since the formation of the police force requires that its current units "be scrapped" and reshaped into a smaller, more elite organization, according to one senior official familiar with the findings. The recommendation is that "we should start over," the official said.
The report, which will be presented to Congress next week, is among a number of new Iraq assessments ?- including a national intelligence estimate and a Government Accountability Office report ?- that await lawmakers when they return from summer recess. But the Jones commission's assessment is likely to receive particular attention as the work of a highly regarded team that was alone in focusing directly on the worthiness of Iraq's army and police force.
Its harsh indictment of a key institution in Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's government is likely to be seized on by Democrats in Congress and other critics of the Bush administration's Iraq strategy as further evidence that a fundamental shift in American policy is required.
However, a new attempt to disband an Iraqi force would also be risky, given the armed backlash that followed the American decision to dissolve the Iraqi Army soon after the invasion of 2003.
Bush administration officials were briefed on the report this week, and they said on Thursday that they were studying its recommendations as part of a strategy review that will include testimony next month from Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker.
Geoff Morrell, a spokesman for Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, said that an American effort to retrain the Iraqi police forces was under way. Mr. Morrell said that Pentagon officials believed that such an effort could succeed in removing sectarianism from the ranks without requiring a complete overhaul of the Iraqi force.
"We're not giving up on the Iraqi National Police," Mr. Morrell said, adding that the United States and Mr. Maliki's government were "both committed to seeing it through."
According to several administration officials, the Jones commission also reached largely positive conclusions about the Iraqi Army's performance since the start of the new security strategy in Iraq ?- a sign, several officials said, that a determined American effort to remake Iraqi institutions holds some promise of success.
The officials who agreed to discuss the commission recommendations did so in some cases because they believed that disclosing them publicly would help diffuse their impact and focus attention on the Petraeus-Crocker report. Members of the commission and their aides declined to speak about the report on Thursday.
The Jones commission, which has 14 members, including former or retired military officers, Defense Department officials and law enforcement officers, was created this year by Congress to study the Iraqi security forces and report its findings this fall. Members of the commission made three trips to Iraq and met with senior American commanders and Iraqi officials. National police units were designated earlier this year to play a major role securing neighborhoods after United States and Iraqi Army units cleared the areas of insurgents. But the police have proven to be a tenuous element of that strategy. Rampant sectarianism as well as supply and equipment problems have led to frequent complaints by the American military that the national police have been ineffective or openly allied with Shiite militants in many neighborhoods.
American commanders on the ground in Shiite-controlled areas of Baghdad say that the local police actively subvert efforts to loosen the grip of militias, and in some cases, attack Americans directly. One commander in northwest Baghdad said most bomb attacks against American patrols in the area this spring occurred close to police checkpoints.
Officers involved in training the national police units, which fall under the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry, acknowledged deep problems with the police but said that they had been working methodically for months on retraining national police units to do exactly what the Jones commission was proposing ?- purge them of Shiite militants and install better leaders.
Officers in Iraq said that during the course of the training effort 9 police brigade commanders and 17 battalion commanders had been relieved of duty for various acts of misconduct, in particular illegal actions of a sectarian nature as well as corruption.
Maj. Joe Pierce, an American Army officer working as an adviser to the Iraqi National Police as part of an Army program, said: ?''I think there is a clear indication that there needs to be some kind of change in the National Police organization. Most of that has to be led by the Iraqi government, because it is a very top-fed type of system.
"If they want to institute change it really cannot come from, specifically, an outsider. It has to start from within, and if the Iraqi government decides that they need to clean up that organization, change will be a real thing and they can clean it up."
American officers have been trying to fix the police force since before 2006, which the military labeled "the year of the police," a slogan meant to show their determination to fix what were, even then, longstanding sectarian problems.
In addition to questioning recommendations in the Jones commission report, Pentagon officials on Thursday also challenged the scathing assessment of political and military progress in Iraq by the Government Accountability Office; the officials said they had asked the agency to revise several of its assessments before making the findings public.
In a draft version of the report, the G.A.O. concluded that Iraq had failed to meet 13 of 18 military and political goals agreed to by President Bush. Pentagon officials are now arguing that two of the failing grades should be upgraded to passing, several Pentagon officials said.
The G.A.O. report was ordered by lawmakers as a parallel assessment to the Petraeus-Crocker report and the agency's presumably more negative portrayal of the conditions in Iraq was immediately seized upon by Democrats as evidence of the need to switch course in Iraq.
The G.A.O. report is not due to be made public in final form until next week. In a statement, Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said that its conclusion provided more support for the case being made by Democrats that "a new direction in Iraq must begin immediately, before more American lives are lost and more taxpayer dollars wasted."
On Friday President Bush is scheduled to meet with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to discuss Iraq. Pentagon officials said the meeting would offer a chance for Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the joint chiefs, and the chiefs of the military services to provide their views about Iraq, as part of a process they have said is intended to present Mr. Bush with a broad range of views about the way forward in Iraq.
Several of the chiefs are expected to press for steep reductions in the force levels in Iraq over the next year out of concern that the current level of more than 160,000 troops imposes too large a strain on the military and leaves too few troops to respond to other contingencies, officials said.
In taking issue with the G.A.O. report, Pentagon officials said that Iraq had succeeded in delivering the promised number of army units to Baghdad as part of its contribution to the stepped-up security effort there, the officials said. The officials also challenged the G.A.O.'s finding that raised doubts about whether sectarian killings had fallen in Iraq in recent months.
Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, defended the White House approach, saying: "The real question that people have is, What's going on in Iraq? Are we making progress? Militarily, is the surge having an impact? The answer's yes."
Thom Shanker contributed reporting from Washington, and Sabrina Tavernise from Baghdad.
A Season of Hope in Iraq
By Michael Gerson
Washington Post
Friday, August 31, 2007; Page A15
The season now ending with school bells and the return of Congress was supposed to be the "Iraq Summer." A coalition of antiwar groups promised 10 weeks of phone banks, billboards, petitions and protests targeted at 40 Republican members of Congress who support the war. "It's going to be like laying asphalt in August -- hot," boasted one organizer.
By this standard, August has been remarkably mild. It brings to mind a couplet by the poet Richard Wilbur: "What is the opposite of riot? It's lots of people keeping quiet."
During their summer vacation, Americans discovered that Gen. David Petraeus doesn't take one. And his energy and urgency have shifted the Iraq debate in some fundamental ways.
A few months ago, it was the received wisdom that Iraq was in the midst of a rapidly escalating civil war. That claim is no longer plausible.
While the level of violence is still unacceptably high, the surge has disrupted the cycle of escalation and proved that progress is possible. Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno's briefing this month was an antidote to pessimism. "Total attacks," he said, "are at their lowest levels since August of 2006." Some of the most violent and lawless regions of Iraq, such as Anbar and Diyala, have been stabilized with the cooperation of local Sunni leaders who have turned against al-Qaeda thuggery. Insurgents are being pushed out of population centers and then targeted in further operations. Sectarian murders in Baghdad have gone down by more than 50 percent in a few months, reaching their lowest levels since the Samarra mosque bombing. And new sectarian provocations -- such as the al-Qaeda bombings in Nineveh -- have not resulted in the usual spiral of revenge murders.
With the surge fully in place only as of last month, the suddenness of these results is startling. Skeptical military experts have returned from Iraq with praise for the Petraeus strategy. And supporters of the war have been left to wonder: What if these approaches had been employed a year earlier?
As the summer began, it seemed that Republicans in Congress were on the verge of mass defections over the president's conduct of the war and ready to embrace Democratic timetables for withdrawal. While Sen. John Warner's recent call for symbolic troop reductions by Christmas didn't help the administration's case, it is now mainly Democrats who are recalibrating their message.
Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been quick to praise the accomplishments of American troops in the surge. And one Democratic House member, Washington's Brian Baird, has gone further since returning from an Iraq visit. While gains are "still precarious," the "situation on the ground in Iraq is improving in multiple and important ways," he said. "I do not know the details of what the September report will contain, but I trust and respect Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker. I have seen firsthand the progress they have made, and I firmly believe we must give them the time and resources they need to succeed."
Four months ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could confidently declare: "This war is lost." Now that is an open question. A recent Zogby poll found that a majority of Americans do not believe the war is lost. And this makes Democratic policies based on the assumption of hopelessness -- rigid timetables and funding cuts -- strategically irresponsible and politically risky. If defeat is inevitable, it makes sense to cut our losses. If defeat is only possible, preemptively ensuring it would confirm a long-standing Democratic image of weakness.
None of these shifts over the summer means that victory in Iraq is near, or even easily definable. Many political benchmarks remain unmet by the Iraqi government. But undeniable progress on the security front has some practical implications. Even if Democrats press a legislative timetable for withdrawal, it is unlikely that they will get the support of 17 Republicans in the Senate to override a presidential veto. The confrontation with Congress may be over by October. As the military has already stated, troop reductions will begin sometime early next year because the Army can't sustain the surge indefinitely. But the president will have gotten an extended period of intensified military activity before his term ends. And unless conditions deteriorate unpredictably, the next president may inherit a more manageable situation -- allowing him or her to make deliberate troop reductions as Iraqi capabilities increase, without turning parts of the country back over to extremists.
Much, of course, depends on the Iraqis themselves, because liberty is ultimately won, not given. But the summer, at least, has brought rumors of hope.
Sectarian murders in Baghdad have gone down by more than 50 percent in a few months, reaching their lowest levels since the Samarra mosque bombing.
During the seven days from 9-15 August 540 people were killed in violent incidents across Iraq.
The number of civilian deaths rose by nearly a hundred on last week's total, up from 343 to 434. This represents the second highest number of civilian casualties recorded since this series monitoring the Iraq surge began.
The death toll of over 250 is still rising from Tuesday's bombing of two Yazidi villages near Mosul. The attack is one of the worst in more than four years of war in Iraq.
Deaths of Iraqi police and soldiers also rose this week, while the number of US soldiers killed fell slightly.
Ican wrote:Quote:General Petraeus will report in September both the successes and failures in Iraq. Even if he reports mostly failures,
With this much riding and how much this coming report do you really expect the report from Petraeus (regardless of who writes it as there seems to some confusion now) will be other than a watered down whitewashed snow job?
Please, even his past reports haven't had any credibility, what makes you think he will report mostly failures?
...
I am sure you will dismiss this as malarkey as you do anything which does not say what you want it say, but the world and reality does not revolve around Ican's beliefs and unreality.
the BBC has detailed reports and statistics from iraq for the weekly periods from june 20 to august 15 on their website - please see link .
hbg
from one of the reports :
Quote:During the seven days from 9-15 August 540 people were killed in violent incidents across Iraq.
The number of civilian deaths rose by nearly a hundred on last week's total, up from 343 to 434. This represents the second highest number of civilian casualties recorded since this series monitoring the Iraq surge began.
The death toll of over 250 is still rising from Tuesday's bombing of two Yazidi villages near Mosul. The attack is one of the worst in more than four years of war in Iraq.
Deaths of Iraqi police and soldiers also rose this week, while the number of US soldiers killed fell slightly.
IRAQ : MOST RECENT REPORTS AND STATS
Sectarian murders in Baghdad have gone down by more than 50 percent in a few months, reaching their lowest levels since the Samarra mosque bombing.
hamburger wrote:the BBC has detailed reports and statistics from iraq for the weekly periods from june 20 to august 15 on their website - please see link .
hbg
from one of the reports :
Quote:During the seven days from 9-15 August 540 people were killed in violent incidents across Iraq.
The number of civilian deaths rose by nearly a hundred on last week's total, up from 343 to 434. This represents the second highest number of civilian casualties recorded since this series monitoring the Iraq surge began.
The death toll of over 250 is still rising from Tuesday's bombing of two Yazidi villages near Mosul. The attack is one of the worst in more than four years of war in Iraq.
Deaths of Iraqi police and soldiers also rose this week, while the number of US soldiers killed fell slightly.
IRAQ : MOST RECENT REPORTS AND STATS
Hamburger, your source's Iraq statistics do not contradict these Baghdad statistics:
Quote:Sectarian murders in Baghdad have gone down by more than 50 percent in a few months, reaching their lowest levels since the Samarra mosque bombing.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=David_Petraeus
Contents
[hide]
1 Background
2 Training Iraqi Security Forces
3 Resources and articles
3.1 Related SourceWatch articles
3.2 Profiles
3.3 Articles by David Petraeus
3.4 Interviews with David Petraeus
3.5 Speeches & Briefings
3.6 External articles
3.6.1 2002
3.6.2 2003
3.6.3 2004
3.6.4 2005
3.6.5 2006
3.6.6 2007
ican711nm wrote:hamburger wrote:the BBC has detailed reports and statistics from iraq for the weekly periods from june 20 to august 15 on their website - please see link .
hbg
from one of the reports :
Quote:During the seven days from 9-15 August 540 people were killed in violent incidents across Iraq.
The number of civilian deaths rose by nearly a hundred on last week's total, up from 343 to 434. This represents the second highest number of civilian casualties recorded since this series monitoring the Iraq surge began.
The death toll of over 250 is still rising from Tuesday's bombing of two Yazidi villages near Mosul. The attack is one of the worst in more than four years of war in Iraq.
Deaths of Iraqi police and soldiers also rose this week, while the number of US soldiers killed fell slightly.
IRAQ : MOST RECENT REPORTS AND STATS
Hamburger, your source's Iraq statistics do not contradict these Baghdad statistics:
Quote:Sectarian murders in Baghdad have gone down by more than 50 percent in a few months, reaching their lowest levels since the Samarra mosque bombing.
What is the source of that Baghdad statistic?
Cycloptichorn
A Season of Hope in Iraq
By Michael Gerson
Washington Post
Friday, August 31, 2007; Page A15
...
"Total attacks," he said, "are at their lowest levels since August of 2006." Some of the most violent and lawless regions of Iraq, such as Anbar and Diyala, have been stabilized with the cooperation of local Sunni leaders who have turned against al-Qaeda thuggery. Insurgents are being pushed out of population centers and then targeted in further operations. Sectarian murders in Baghdad have gone down by more than 50 percent in a few months, reaching their lowest levels since the Samarra mosque bombing. And new sectarian provocations -- such as the al-Qaeda bombings in Nineveh -- have not resulted in the usual spiral of revenge murders.
