Thread: Iraqi Civilian Deaths DOUBLE Despite Troop Escalation

Here's another article that the cons will line up to try and ignore.

The media is busy telling us how the surge has brought violence down in Iraq. That is flatly false. It has come down in some areas such as the capital. Even that reduction has not been much as the rate of deaths there is about the same as a year ago.

But, violent edeaths greatly grown in other areas. It has grown so signficantly what there are now double the civilian casualties in the country that there were last year.

It is not just a game of wack-a-mole. The moles are killing more people than ever.

Meanwhile our troop deaths are way up. The Iraqi government has made none of the progress that Bush said we were giving them "breathing room" to make.

The supposed sucess that is being reported is a myth or worse yet, a deliberate lie.

SURGE = FAILURE

Iraq Body Count Running at Double Pace - Forbes.com

Iraq Body Count Running at Double Pace

BAGHDAD -
This year's U.S. troop buildup has succeeded in bringing violence in Baghdad down from peak levels, but the death toll from sectarian attacks around the country is running nearly double the pace from a year ago.

Some of the recent bloodshed appears the result of militant fighters drifting into parts of northern Iraq, where they have fled after U.S.-led offensives. Baghdad, however, still accounts for slightly more than half of all war-related killings - the same percentage as a year ago, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

The tallies and trends offer a sobering snapshot after an additional 30,000 U.S. troops began campaigns in February to regain control of the Baghdad area. It also highlights one of the major themes expected in next month's Iraq progress report to Congress: some military headway, but extremist factions are far from broken.

In street-level terms, it means life for average Iraqis appears to be even more perilous and unpredictable.

The AP tracking includes Iraqi civilians, government officials, police and security forces killed in attacks such as gunfights and bombings, which are frequently blamed on Sunni suicide strikes. It also includes execution-style killings - largely the work of Shiite death squads.

The figures are considered a minimum based on AP reporting. The actual numbers are likely higher, as many killings go unreported or uncounted. Insurgent deaths are not a part of the Iraqi count.

The findings include:

_ Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths throughout the country compared with last year - an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year.

_ Nearly 1,000 more people have been killed in violence across Iraq in the first eight months of this year than in all of 2006. So far this year, about 14,800 people have died in war-related attacks and sectarian murders. AP reporting accounted for 13,811 deaths in 2006. The United Nations and other sources placed the 2006 toll far higher.

_ Baghdad has gone from representing 76 percent of all civilian and police war-related deaths in Iraq in January to 52 percent in July, bringing it back to the same spot it was roughly a year ago.

_According to the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization, the number of displaced Iraqis has more than doubled since the start of the year, from 447,337 on Jan. 1 to 1.14 million on July 31.

However, Brig. Gen. Richard Sherlock, deputy director for operational planning for the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said violence in Iraq "has continued to decline and is at the lowest level since June 2006."

He offered no statistics to back his claim, but in a briefing with reporters at the Pentagon on Friday he warned insurgents might try intensify attacks in Iraq to coincide with three milestones: the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., the beginning of Ramadan and the report to Congress.

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I especially love the last part there. Good example of the kind of false propaganda being pumped out by the administration and repeated by the media.

Things in Iraq have gotten worse under the surge. Much worse.

Where are you "surge" supporters?

Hiding from the fact that your troop escalation has been an utter failure?

Hiding from doubled civilian deaths while Dear Leader falsely claims great progress?

Hiding from the utter failure of the surge to bring down violence or lead to any political progress?

Where's you go? :dunno:

Very depressing, saddening and dispiriting stats.

Originally Posted by Distressed American

Where are you "surge" supporters?

Hiding from the fact that your troop escalation has been an utter failure?

Hiding from doubled civilian deaths while Dear Leader falsely claims great progress?

Hiding from the utter failure of the surge to bring down vioolence or lead to any political progress?

Where's you go? :dunno:

I think they're waiting for the propaganda feed from the White House to download so they can post the upbeat bullshit lies that Bush and his Gang have spun up.

I find it it incredibly sad that these people simply refuse to do better for themselves. They have every opportunity to actually build a great nation and yet they seem more interested in killing each other off.

Originally Posted by Common Sense Craig

I think they're waiting for the propaganda feed from the White House to download so they can post the upbeat bullshit lies that Bush and his Gang have spun up.

I have to admit, I do wonder how trhey will try to spin this news.

This is a complete and utter refutation of the bullshit they have been trying so very hard to make America believe in advance of the Patreaus report come September.

These stats could not be more clear. Their troop escalation has totally failed on both the security and political fronts. It is every bit the fruitless game of wack-a-mole that its opponents said it was from day one.

Originally Posted by mdmx96

I find it it incredibly sad that these people simply refuse to do better for themselves. They have every opportunity to actually build a great nation and yet they seem more interested in killing each other off.

This is no suprise to many of us. It is an utterly predictable struggle for power. No one would listen to those of us that saw this outcome years ago.

It was predicted by those that opposed the war well before the invasion. Sectarian civil war was a given. There is no such thing as an "Iraqi". There are only Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds that the Brits forces to live in a territory of their making. That has been the reality from the day that Iraq was established by outsiders.

But, the neocons would have nothing to do with that obvous fact. They were to convinced that we'd just be greeted with flowers and all would be a new Iraqi democratric utopia.

It was a total refusal to believe anything but their own bullshit rosy glases pipe dream. Now our folks are dying and Iraqis are dying all for nothing at all.

And people wonder why I am so harshly critical of neocons and those that voted for them?

We are currently engaged in a finger in the dike strategy. (boy, that's an opening for a joke if I ever saw one) But anyway, that's what this has become. Just holding back the inevitable. Gupta's words. Since we are gonna leave at some point anyway, and since we don't have enough troops or will to surge the whole F'in country, we should get the hell out as quickly as is safe for our guys.
There's no doubt that Petreus' report (if unfiltered) will conclude that only more troops and a very long occupation will even come close to seeing any semblance of success. Success defined as a gov't that can bring all sects to an agreement not to kill each other en mass and to share oil revenue in some sort of equal way. (more pipe dreams) What has been Petreus' strategy? To F'in arm both sides. (sunni and shia) Well those arms will serve them very well when the inevitable happens. This has got to me the most moronic strategy yet. Yes, worse even than Rummy's genius way of thinking.
And our leaders tell us to leave the war to the military brainiacs. This is working so well.

Originally Posted by Distressed American

Here's another article that the cons will line up to try and ignore.

The media is busy telling us how the surge has brought violence down in Iraq. That is flatly false. It has come down in some areas such as the capital. Even that reduction has not been much as the rate of deaths there is about the same as a year ago.

But, violent edeaths greatly grown in other areas. It has grown so signficantly what there are now double the civilian casualties in the country that there were last year.

It is not just a game of wack-a-mole. The moles are killing more people than ever.

Meanwhile our troop deaths are way up. The Iraqi government has made none of the progress that Bush said we were giving them "breathing room" to make.

The supposed sucess that is being reported is a myth or worse yet, a deliberate lie.

SURGE = FAILURE

Iraq Body Count Running at Double Pace - Forbes.com

Iraq Body Count Running at Double Pace

BAGHDAD -
This year's U.S. troop buildup has succeeded in bringing violence in Baghdad down from peak levels, but the death toll from sectarian attacks around the country is running nearly double the pace from a year ago.

Some of the recent bloodshed appears the result of militant fighters drifting into parts of northern Iraq, where they have fled after U.S.-led offensives. Baghdad, however, still accounts for slightly more than half of all war-related killings - the same percentage as a year ago, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

The tallies and trends offer a sobering snapshot after an additional 30,000 U.S. troops began campaigns in February to regain control of the Baghdad area. It also highlights one of the major themes expected in next month's Iraq progress report to Congress: some military headway, but extremist factions are far from broken.

In street-level terms, it means life for average Iraqis appears to be even more perilous and unpredictable.

The AP tracking includes Iraqi civilians, government officials, police and security forces killed in attacks such as gunfights and bombings, which are frequently blamed on Sunni suicide strikes. It also includes execution-style killings - largely the work of Shiite death squads.

The figures are considered a minimum based on AP reporting. The actual numbers are likely higher, as many killings go unreported or uncounted. Insurgent deaths are not a part of the Iraqi count.

The findings include:

_ Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths throughout the country compared with last year - an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year.

_ Nearly 1,000 more people have been killed in violence across Iraq in the first eight months of this year than in all of 2006. So far this year, about 14,800 people have died in war-related attacks and sectarian murders. AP reporting accounted for 13,811 deaths in 2006. The United Nations and other sources placed the 2006 toll far higher.

_ Baghdad has gone from representing 76 percent of all civilian and police war-related deaths in Iraq in January to 52 percent in July, bringing it back to the same spot it was roughly a year ago.

_According to the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization, the number of displaced Iraqis has more than doubled since the start of the year, from 447,337 on Jan. 1 to 1.14 million on July 31.

However, Brig. Gen. Richard Sherlock, deputy director for operational planning for the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said violence in Iraq "has continued to decline and is at the lowest level since June 2006."

He offered no statistics to back his claim, but in a briefing with reporters at the Pentagon on Friday he warned insurgents might try intensify attacks in Iraq to coincide with three milestones: the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., the beginning of Ramadan and the report to Congress.

======

I especially love the last part there. Good example of the kind of false propaganda being pumped out by the administration and repeated by the media.

Things in Iraq have gotten worse under the surge. Much worse.

And yet the chimp administration props up the O' Hanlin & Pollock report as a valid indication that the troop surge is working!

Originally Posted by steezer

And yet the chimp administration props up the O' Hanlin & Pollock report as a valid indication that the troop surge is working!

I am still waiting on the Cons to show their faces here. So far we have only one that just can't believe that the Iraqis suck so bad or whatever.

How many threads were there pushing that bullshit from Pollack and O'Hannlon? I remember several and I saw many other threads where their article was dragged in as an argument. So, I know that there are tons of neocons here that think the surge is working.

Where are those people now?

Hiding from the documented truth, just as I expected they would.

Neocons are desperately fact averse. They will cite glowing OP EDS telling us about the great progress in Iraq all day long. But, bring hard documented stats and they run away like there is no tomorrow.

What fact averse, propaganda spewing, Cowards. I'd be embarassed to be one of them.