Iraqi Deaths Up In October In Blow to US ‘Surge’ Policy
BAGHDAD - The number of Iraqis killed in insurgent and sectarian attacks rose in October, according to government figures obtained on Thursday, in a blow to a nine-month-old US troop surge policy.
At least 887 Iraqis were killed last month, compared to 840 in September, according to the data compiled by the interior, defence and health ministries.
As in previous months, the dead were overwhelmingly civilians, with 758 reported killed against 116 policemen and 13 soldiers.
The October death toll remained sharply down on the August figure of 1,770 but the increase on September dented boasts from both US and Iraqi leaders that the crackdown on insurgent and militia violence was leading to a significant fall in casualties.
Again on Thursday, Iraq’s minister for security, Shirwan al-Waili, insisted that the situation was improving in Baghdad and other areas.
“Because of the security plan, the violence has reduced. Baghdad is much safer,” Waili told state television.
And just last week, the Iraqi army commander for the Baghdad region, General Abud Qanbar, hailed what he said was mounting evidence of the success of Operation Fardh al-Qanoon (Imposing Law) launched in the capital and surrounding regions in February.
The operation has seen the deployment of 28,500 additional US troops ordered to Iraq as part of the “surge” policy of President George W. Bush.
“The level of the terrorist operations has reduced, and life has come to normality in many parts in Baghdad,” Qanbar told reporters on October 24.
US second-in-command Lieutenant General Ray Odierno told the same news conference there was a “downward trend” in attacks.
“Improvised explosive device attacks, the extremists’ preferred method of terror, have also been reduced, down well over 60 percent in the past four months, with notably reduced lethality,” he said.
Iraqi casualties soared after a February 2006 attack on a revered Shiite shrine claimed by Al-Qaeda sparked an explosion of sectarian violence.
The bombing at the Al-Askari shrine in the central city of Samarra saw a sharp rise in monthly death tolls, peaking in January this year with 1,992 deaths reported by the three Iraqi ministries.
The ministry statistics are difficult to track as officals get reports of many attacks days later.
As recently as Sunday, preliminary figures floated by the three ministries had suggested the October death toll would total just 285.
The prime minister’s office which used to release the data officially stopped doing so as the figures were widely disputed.
The United Nations, which used to review the statistics, has not been able to do so since earlier this year.
British website Iraqbodycount.net, which tracks Iraqi casualty figures, said 2007 could yet end up being the second deadliest year since the March 2003 invasion, after last year which saw 27,000 civilian deaths.
In new violence on Thursday, 16 Iraqis were killed, five of them in the capital, and 11 in the confessional mixed province of Diyala to its north.
The dead in Diyala, most of them security personnel, came after a suicide bombing against the province’s police headquarters in the city of Baquba on Monday killed 28 policemen.
The five dead in the capital were would-be recruits to the Iraqi army from the Sunni district of Adhamiyah who had gathered at a recruitment centre in the nearby Al-Binouk neighbourhood, security officials said.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse
ACCORDING TO THE WHORE MEDIA, THE SURGE IS WORKING BECAUSE “ONLY” 29 OF OUR BRAVE AND PATRIOTIC SOLDIERS WERE KILLED IN IRAQ LAST MONTH, THE LOWEST IN A LONG TIME WHILE THEY DO NOT MENTION THE 887 IRAQI’S KILLED.
Yes, but Iraqi deaths don’t really matter to this administration, or to many American people. The “surge” is really an all out effort to pacify the Iraqi people by whatever means necessary in order to redeem the Bush administration’s foreign policy. Calling in massive and devastating air-strikes is the latest method of intimidation, and if civilans are killed that’s the collective punishment the US is imposing as the price Iraqis must pay for supporting an insurgency or for showing even the slightest resistence. At this point the plan seems to be either drive the people out, kill them, completely subdue them, or bribe them, to the point where they will passively accept the occupation by the US military and total domination by Global corporations, mainly US based, over Iraqi oil fields. All resistence is called “terrorism” and the resisters are called “Islamofacsists.”
Democrats, progressives, miscellaneous liberals and moderates should not appear eager to see the “surge” fail. Even the slightest whiff of “wishing for failure of troops” is the kiss of death in a national election.
Conservatives (thinking as they do) will only pay any attention whatsoever to the bodycount of U.S. soldiers, anyway, not Iraqi deaths. This mindset, by the way, is symptomatic of why we need to replace the conservative philosophy in The White House.
The 2008 election is a referendum on a very wide range of issues. It will not be won by liberals knocking the “surge”, but it certainly could be lost that way.
You would not know this fact from the fascist controlled United States MSM.
I think what’s most important to keep foremost in your mind is the fact that the US is making war on and destroying another country that had no means or intention of invading the US. There is no moral high-ground to be found under those circumstances and anyone who supports this war is an immoral person.
The fact is that less soldiers are being killed because the US Air Force is dropping more bombs now than at the beginning of the war. Of course more civilians are being slaughtered and murdered, but the quisling media is helping the Bush administration sustain an illusion that the exact opposite is the case. Now, there were journalists from Rwanda who were tried for advocating war crimes. One day when war crimes trials begin for this war, there need to be journalists taken to court in handcuffs and tried for their complicity. Fathead Russert and Judith Miller need to be thrown into a dark, dirty hole for their warmongering and cheerleading, and that would only be a good start.
It is time for Move-On to run another full page add saying that in fact General Patraeus DID betray us.
Daniel David, your ’strategic’ idea that it’s a mistake to be hoping for a failure of the present policies, which indeed does imply hoping for a failure of the work of the troops, this ’strategic’ thinking is ill advised. It buys into the administration’s idea of ‘winning’ in Iraq.
In reality, the resistance fighters in Iraq are defending against truly negative forces in our world. Those negative forces just happen to be concentrated in the USA. So those resistance forces are resisting what we should be resisting. US troops are simply caught in the middle.
Disowning that huge and courageous effort by the Iraqi resistance for the sake of being ‘politically correct’ is a shameful position to take.
‘Strategic thinking’ is close to the root of the world’s problems. It is time people chose honesty and straightforwardness. It’s time to say what you mean and mean what you say. And most of all, it’s time for people in North America to aid their brothers in Iraq, both troops and resistance fighters, and to bring down the corporations that control the politics here.
“The number of Iraqis killed in insurgent and sectarian attacks rose in October …”
{Yawn] More dead foreigners. Change the channel. I think there may be a rerun of American Idol.
This, of course, is the measuring stick for the Iraq adventure. Unlike what the US junta has tried to say during the thoughtful de-vietnamization of another murderous campaign : “We don’t do body counts” They very much do. Even after all the deaths, torture, fraud, theft, barbarism, and the unbelievable theater of the worst human behavior imaginable it comes down to an idiotic cry of “we’re winning” if less soldiers get killed.
Malfoyd,
You’re right that honesty and straighforwardness are morally preferable to “strategic thinking.” But, please bear in mind that “strategic thinking” are your words, not mine.
If liberals win in 2008, you may get SOME change in American foreign policy and SOME mitigation of the corporate control of America. If conservatives win again, you don’t. I’m against foot-shooting, and I’ve been “saying what I mean, and meaning what I say”, as you put it, for some time now. As for “shameful”, what’s shameful is losing elections we don’t have to lose and then tossing all the needs of real people, including Iraqis, back to conservatives for all American policy to be made at the discretion of Republicans.
Anyone who is not a member of the Reich is not human, so Iraqi deaths do not count.
Accountability, accountability, accountability.
How much money are the Bush’s, Clintons, Pelosis, Cheneys, etc. making from the war. I’d like to see that asked in a presidential debate.
Daniel David: what would constitute surge success?
“At least 887 Iraqis were killed last month…”
“At least 887 Iraqis were killed last month…”
“At least 887 Iraqis were killed last month…”
…
“At least…”
That’s …er … *EIGHT HUNDRED, and EIGHTY SEVEN* thinking, feeling, warm-blooded, functioning human beings, who were previously:
1. Men, -who were fathers and sons, -uncles and grandpas.
2. Women, -who were mothers and daughters, -aunts and grandmas.
3. And little, pint-sized corpses, who were, - (until last month) - just innocent little kids, running about and playing, -like all kids of all nations, do at that age…
These (now murdered ones) were those whose lives have been needlessly, USELESSLY snuffed out last month.
~And all because the leaders of the now *morally bankrupt* US-of-A are utterly insane, and seek to cause maximum harm to the human race ~ courtesy of their absolute devotion to Lucifer.
_________________________
One day, America will rise from the ashes which the Bush-Cheney devil-worshipers have visited upon that once-blessed nation.
I pray that will be very, very soon.
Then this disgusting, horrendous slaughter of innocents can end, and the human race can begin to set itself once more upon a properly virtuous path…
Daniel David,
life is a kind of chaos and disorder of an organic quality. most of the common dreams sorts seem to live by this probability. I think you need to give up the idea that life can be indefinitely subjected to an inorganic set of rules and regulations, or that maintaining a perpetual status quo is a healthy thing for organisms over the long term.
Dramatic change isn’t necessarily to be feared. Nor is it necessarily frightening, in fact it may at some point be required, even if it means a complete loss of all that one has.
You may at some point decide not to be so set in stone, and as you give, so may we. Said the worm to the stone, I’ll bore a hole through you yet.
Un-common dreams–Thanks for putting this in just the perspective that it should be. These are living human beings–our brothers and sisters. It can’t go on. That’s why we can’t play along with this surge/winning/losing bullshit Daniel David. The Iraqi people continue to lose and we have to insist that it stop. The troops would be much better off too, by the way.
Anyone remember that Muqtadr al-Sadr cut a deal with the occupiers late this summer, to bench his Mahdi Army till Spring 2008? He’s done so; a small faction continues operations after breaking off from the main body.
hablano,
“Daniel David, what would constitute surge success?”
Thanks for asking. In my mind, surge success would be to declare victory, call it off, fire the contractors, and bring the troops home as quickly as possible. Republicans WILL NOT do that in either this administration or their next.
Democrats might, IF they’re in total control of The White House and Congress.
Some people above evidently think I’m defending the surge. What I’m saying is we cannot base most of the 2008 campaign on the war and the bodycounts and the appearance we’re hoping the bodycounts will get worse so we can say “I told you so.”. Won’t work. We’ll just lose, and there is no need to lose. Most of the 2008 offensive campaign by Democrats should be based on issues other than the war. There we have some chance.
Having the campaign be a replay of Harry Reid saying the war is “lost” is nothing but declaring defeat in the election. The 2008 election matters. It matters.
I am really shocked that Bush the inferior may be wrong about his brilliant ‘SURGE’ strategy. Of course, he was right that the ‘SURGE’ would work on the media. Giving the media and endless supply of bullshit has been the primary achievement of this non-reality based administration.
If I may be presumptuous and elaborate on Daniel David’s admonition about ruining our chances to take back the white house if we appear too happy that the war is not going well.
We have to take into consideration the stupidity of the American electorate, the same people who voted for Bush in 2004, they are fickle and afraid.
Remember the country is evenly divided and a candidate who does not wholeheartedly support the troops is not going to get elected.
We can be high minded, moralistic and uncompromising in our principles but the bottom line is we must get a democrat in the white house and a majority in the congress if we want to bring an end to the deterioration of our planet.
To accomplish this goal we must be realistic about the fact that you can never go wrong underestimating the intelligence of the American voter.
Daniel David’s political theory is too crude.
He opposes impeachment - I don’t know why. It may fail, but it should be tried. Politically, it can’t hurt. Being impeached for a blowjob didn’t help Bill Clinton.
As for badmouthing the war, the surge, the troops and so on, the more Americans feel like shit about this war, the better. So the peace movement should pile it on.
But Democratic politicians are another matter. They will not want to sound like they long for defeat and won’t want to be accused of not supporting the troops, whatever that means. So don’t be surprised if they don’t jump onto all your bandwagons, and don’t condemn them for failing to make stupid statements that will cost them votes without doing any good.
We have to recognize the difference between issue advocacy and electoral politics. Educating the public and pushing the envelope has different requirements than getting elected and winning power so you can actually change the decisions being made. When choosing candidates, we have to look beneath the rhetoric and consider personal history, evidence of character, and where available, voting records on votes that mattered.
Third parties are a fraud because they can’t win, but people are attracted to them because they fail to understand that a politician who is on your side but needs to win a statewide or national election is not necessarily going to speak your language or say everything you want to hear all the time.
At the same time, the fact that a politician can’t say something doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t say it loud and clear.
All this parsing and carping. Have we forgotten that there is an intrinsic value in speaking the truth—even a truth that many do not want to hear? This outrageously immoral war of aggression, now an equally immoral occupation, should be condemned. I do not blame the the troops. They are caught in the middle and short of going AWOL or fragging, they are stuck, at least until they can come home and take a political stand. They care about each other—the tight buddy system and they are for the most part young kids! It’s the ones who sent them there and the ones who refuse to stop this madness that need to be confronted and confronted and confronted. You can’t finesse your way thru something this clearly evil. If that is Dems strategy, they don’t deserve to have the power, but I fear that they are willfully complicit and because of that, we must resist them as well.
If you listen to anything that those stupid generals say and think that you’re hearing anything other than bullshit then it’s your own fault if you have a bad conception of the continuing and non-decreasing chaos in Iraq. The deaths of U.S. service personnel is only down from the exceptional three months of April, May and June, 2007, otherwise they are in the average to high range for the whole war.
http://www.icasualties.org/oif/
This past month of October is the only one which can be classified as a low month, 39 dead U.S. and 2 dead coalition, because the U.S. has been utilizing their new strategy whereby they don’t move around so much, so, of course, they don’t get blown up by so many roadside bombs. Instead, they call in airstrikes on more soft targets and classify any dead body with a penis as an enemy combatent. Which, naturally, makes the body count of Iraqi defenders killed higher and the body count of Iraqi civilians killed lower.
Actually,I want the surge to succeed, because it would help the Iraqis gain control of their own country while giving our troops ample reason to return home. Bush gets blame, not credit, for causing an unnecessary war and throwing the whole Middle East into a crisis; the surge was an idea forced on him by the outcome of the 2006 elections.
Still that weak little toad will claim credit for a “victory” that is Pyrrhic at best. Everybody outside his tight little circle knows better, and Goppies will still get the election day punishment they so richly deserve. So also should so many weak-kneed simpering Demmies, who voted for war, voted for torture, voted for spying, and then came back to us saying there was nothing else they could do. With friends like them, we don’t need Republicans.
Wait till you see November!
How telling that the CIA thinks people are so stupid that they still think normal people will believe any misdirection that is placed in front of them. The position of the CIA in the world is a unique one, akin to the fairytale reputation of the Mossad, the goofy security force of the Israelis which has never accomplished anything more renowned than capturing a bunch of geriatrics and then hanging them.
In the middle part of the twentieth century the U.S. was convinced that they were building an unassailable reputation as assaulters of territory, after Normandy and Inchon, and when the CIA proposed assaulting a beach, Playa Giron, in their backyard of Cuba, they enthusiastically supported that operation and assisted the CIA to the fullest of their capability. The CIA had at their disposal all of the funds and and military advisors needed to plan an invasion and, when it failed miserably, the CIA was looked upon among their own community as clutzes. But, naturally, they couldn’t see themselves as such and thought that when other professionals were regarding them condescendingly that they were really regarding them enviously as belonging to an exclusive organization. And, after attempting to assassinate Fidel Castro a couple of hundred times, the whole world community involved in the secrecy business regarded the CIA as the epitomy of losers in the secrecy business and their real reputation as cellar dwellars was secured.
Now, normally, if any organization couldn’t accomplish their goal they would give that up and move on to other prospects, but the CIA, being the absolute losers of intelligence organizations, continued with trying to assassinate Fidel Castro to the extent that their attempts amounted to more than 650 attempts over a period of four decades and involved such worthless terrorists as Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, both currently residing in Miami under U.S. government protection.
In the whole course of this progression, there occasionally would be an above average person who was erroneously employed by the CIA and they would swiftly be identified, by the other low class U.S. security classification standards, and they would then be approached, recruited and transferred to another organization which was slightly higher in rank than the cesspool of secret services. But whenever that happened the losers who had to remain in the backwater of intelligence services always consoled themselves by believing that they were being mined and not raided.
Dichterfreund said:
“Anyone remember that Muqtadr al-Sadr cut a deal with the occupiers late this summer, to bench his Mahdi Army till Spring 2008? He’s done so; a small faction continues operations after breaking off from the main body.”
Firstly this statement accepts the Bush administations view that Muqtada al-Sadr is/was a major force behind the killing of Iraqi civilians which is highly questionable. The US has been propangandising against and demonising Al Sadr right from the start. The real reason Al Sadr had his cease fire is as follows:
Al Sadr was embarrased by the firefights his group had with the Hakim led Shia group (part of the Shiite coalition government with al Sadr’s group) These two were having turf fights which threatened to undermine Shiite solidarity. Al Sadr was forced to stand-down his troops because of that. That is, it was a case of re-establishing inter-Shiite solidarity probably under orders from Grand Ayatolla Sistani.
An explanation from the US military explaining the drop in US military deaths getting currency in MSM like the Washington Post is that the Iranians have pledged to stop allowing any more armour piercing roadside bombs to pass across their border. That is like saying that the Iranians have agreed to “stop beating their wife”. I didn’t believe those accusations that Iran was sending the bombs in the first place. Where was the evidence? Iran was a convenient party to blame for things not working out in Iraq. Iran may have been arming the Shiite militias and the Iraqi government, but it makes no sense for them to arm the Sunni resistance that was fighting the U.S. troops.
The roadside bombs have been essentially the weapon of the Sunni led anti occupation resistance forces. One major reason that the Sunni resistance activities have changed is that quite simply - THE U.S. HAS BOUGHT THEM OFF with money, weapons and by giving them an understanding that it is the Shiite militias and Iran who the U.S. really fears and will soon be having a war with. The old Sunni resistance is happy that the U.S. has simply CHANGED SIDES under the cover of their new policy “of turning the Sunni tribes against al Qaeda”. Quite correctly the Maliki government, Sistani and the Shiite militias have complained about the U.S. support for the Sunni resistance. The US is also trying to provoke Al Sadr into fighting back against their provocative raids into Al Sadr territory.
In short - Now it is all about the “real” U.S. enemy - Iran.
.
We read this article and then this morning, an Associated Press headliner has a story that the death toll of civilians in Iraq is at an all time low. In that article the ’surge’ is working as planned. ____ What’s up?
“Third parties are a fraud because they can’t win, but people are attracted to them because they fail to understand that a politician who is on your side but needs to win a statewide or national election is not necessarily going to speak your language or say everything you want to hear all the time.”
No, people vote for third parties because they don’t like the politics of the two mainstream parties, as well as the usual silly reasons, like thinking someone is photogenic, or funny, or whatever. Besides, third parties do win local elections; the Greens in particular have had notable success on a local scale in this regard, especially when you consider the real reason for lack of better third party results: the rigging of the two party system by the two party system.
I will admit though that people do fall prey to the notion that politicians are somehow supposed to be a conduit for everything they think and feel, although it sounds like what you’re saying is more like “hey, don’t whine when they turn out to be lying sacks of dung.” Either way, engaging in politricks is something that politicians do, regardless of party affiliation. If you must vote, vote on the basis of what a person represents, believes and acts upon, not just what they promise at election time.
Daniel David,
What seems to be lacking from your analysis is any possibility of people acting effectively from outside of the voting mechanism. Putting so much weight on the system effectively ensures that some variation on the same old crap is going to keep happening, one way or another, sooner or somewhat later. At this point, the only way that politicians will be accountable en masse, especially at a presidential level, is if their hands are held to the fire by the public at large - which means economic resistance, be it boycotts, sit-ins, whatever. We also need new ideas.
So…here’s a question for you. Do you think that political change is possible outside of the two party system - and if not, why not?
(An aside: the moment I typed “economic resistance,” Jane Harman’s “A thought against the government is a vote for treason” bill popped into my head. Yaaah! Don’t taze (or waterboard) me, Congressperson! lol)
KEM PATRICK November 3rd, 2007 5:16 am wrote:
We read this article and then this morning, an Associated Press headliner has a story that the death toll of civilians in Iraq is at an all time low. In that article the ’surge’ is working as planned. ____ What’s up?
Here is a cross-section of reports each with their different angle. From: http://blogs.globalgeopolitics.org/wp01/?p=24431
Iraq Crisis News
U.S. Sees Decline In Bombs In Iraq (Washington Post)
Iran may be curtailing the flow into Iraq of lethal armor-piercing projectiles that have become a major killer of U.S. troops, although more time is needed to confirm the trend, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and senior military officials said yesterday.
Powerful roadside blasts decline in Iraq (Los Angeles Times)
Pentagon says it’s too soon to tell whether the drop is due to a pledge by Iran, accused by the U.S. of supplying the devices. WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense officials said Thursday that Iraqi insurgents have sharply curtailed the use of their most powerful roadside bombs, weapons American officials have repeatedly charged are being smuggled into the war zone from Iran.
: The future of Iraq: Democracy, civil War, or chaos : (Kurdish Media)
Although the future of Iraq is not settled, there are many reasons to be optimistic about ongoing accomplishments. Many signs point out that a democratic culture and democratic institutions are slowly but firmly emerging.
Gains in Iraq Alter Race for 2008 (The New York Sun)
The sharp decline in the number of American and Iraqi casualties in the Iraq war over the last five months is set to defuse one of the key Democratic election issues and bolster those presidential candidates who have opposed a quick withdrawal from the country. Figures issued yesterday showed the number of Americans killed in Iraq during October fell to 39, from 65 in September, 84 in August, …
October is least deadly month in Iraq since ’06 (Stars and Stripes)
American military deaths in Iraq have hit their lowest point in 20 months, with commanders and soldiers saying the numbers show marked improvement in the security situation throughout the country…
Iraqi deaths up in blow to American surge policy (Gulf Times)
BAGHDAD: The number of Iraqis killed in insurgent and sectarian attacks rose in October, according to government figures obtained yesterday, in a blow to a nine-month-old US troop surge policy.
U.S., Iraqis weigh meaning of declining death toll (San Jose Mercury News)
BAGHDAD, Iraq - From store clerks selling cigarettes by generator power, to military commanders poring over aerial maps, Iraqis and Americans are striving to understand the sharp decrease in violence over the past several months and what it might herald for the future of Iraq.
Iran-Iraq Weapon Flow May Diminish (Hartford Courant)
Iran may be curtailing the flow into Iraq of lethal armor-piercing projectiles that have become a major killer of U.S. troops, although more time is needed to confirm the trend, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and senior military officials said Thursday.
Iraqi deaths up in October in blow to US ’surge’ policy (TODAYonline)
US soldiers guard the site of an explosion in Baghdad. The number of Iraqis killed in insurgent and sectarian attacks rose in October, according to government figures obtained on Thursday, in a blow to a nine-month-old US troop surge policy.
Iraqi deaths up in October in blow to US ’surge’ policy (BruDirect.com)
Baghdad - The number of Iraqis killed in insurgent and sectarian attacks rose in October, according to government figures obtained on Thursday, in a blow to a nine-month-old US troop surge policy.
Thank you JAN, in other words, some of the press is either terribly wrong or intenionally lying. Our American free press and media, or the White House staff will likely report the wrong statistics to the public,____ the lies. I suppose it is a bit difficult to determine which ones are wrong.
US of A or maybe I. What has happened to your Courts of Justice ? Your People are screaming out for Justice in many forms and the rest of the supposidly Free World ( by your definition ) awaits an explanation.
What happened to our Law Of The Land, our Constitution? Congressman Conyers has violated that prime law, by refusing to place HR-bill 333 on the table for a vote and no one except Cindy Sheehan has challenged him on that serious crime. For doing so, she was arrested.
Do the Dems understand that Hillary will not get much of the progressive vote?
I can’t believe that she is going to be the nominee. She is as much as a hawk as Bush.
KEM said
“some of the press is either terribly wrong or intenionally lying”.
It has a lot to do with which figures they are using and which figures they are comparing them against. Deaths were up dramatically for 3 months around June and July. The last couple of months the figures are generally back to what they were before that. The way news sources use the figures says more about them than the war in Iraq.
Figures don’t lie, ____ “firgur-ers” do.
Thanks for the explanation. abc ‘World News Tonight’ reported the situation improving figures the other night, and then I saw this. Confusing.
There are some signs of progress. The Sunnis are not attacking the Americans so often, and the Shiites are not killing each other quite so much. If they could actually work out a coalition, but not agree to the American oil PSA demands, it would give the US forces nothing to do and expose the neocon oil grab colonization attempt for what it is.
Yep, I can confirm that I heard on CNN yesterday that they said Iraqi deaths were down by half from last month. (Sept, Oct)
Shameless