Shhh ... Good News From Iraq, Don't Tell Congress

And when it comes from McClatchy newspapers, you know it must be genuine, or they wouldn't print it. A two-thirds drop in the civilian casualty rate in and around Baghdad. Funny, I wouldn't have had that impression from the daily coverage over the last month. They've been focusing on the rise in military casualties, which were always anticipated with the current surge.

Civilian deaths decreasing
By Mike Drummond - McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD -- Iraqi civilian deaths in Baghdad dropped significantly in June, a possible indication that recent American military operations around the country and raids on car-bomb shops in the "belts" ringing the capital are starting to pay off.

But June also marked the end of the bloodiest quarter for U.S. troops since the war began in March 2003.

Unofficial figures compiled by McClatchy Newspapers' show 189 Iraqis, including police and government security forces, were killed in the capital through Friday, a drop of almost two thirds since this year's high in February, when 520 were killed. The average monthly death toll of Iraqis in Baghdad was 410 from December through May.

Comments

[southdakotaboy]

This would explain Ried and Pelosie's now frantic attempts to end the war before September. The Dems have to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in order to hold onto or increase their gains in 2008. The problem for the Dems is the fact that their Congress has an approval rating of about 14% so if things start looking good the American people will turn on them like a pack of wolves. Americans trust the millitary more than any member of government by a huge amount it is not even close. If and when General P. gets infront of Congress to give his report watch to see what the Dems do. If the news is bad the hearings will be public and plastered all over the MSM. If on the other hand the news is good look for the Dems to hold closed hearings and attempt to keep the hearings and report secret and out of the MSM.

[Terry Gain]

"Take THAT, evil brown people!!!"

America is giving blood and treasure to enable "brown people" to choose democracy and the rule of law but poor, stupid BIS thinks this is about killing "brown people".

It's not clear when Baghdad will be "fully secured" but it is a certainty that it will be long before BIS gets a clue.

This must be a difficult time for BIS, as it's abundantly clear that the Surge is working.

[rwilymz]

"their Congress has an approval rating of about 14%..."

That's only a partial recitation of the commonly-found results.

For Congress-as-a-whole, approval is usually low; for *their own Congrasshole* it's usually fairly high. Fortunately [or un-, for some folks], we aren't allowed to vote on a nation-wide basis for other peoples' representatives. It sorta defeats representative government, I think. Your mileage may vary, though.

[Kamil Al Quadsy]

Dan,
You're jumping the gun just a little too quickly! Keep in mind that the summer months is when Al qaeda members take time off to go vacationing in the cool and pristine Afghani-Pakistani mountains. Sure, there's a slight decline in terrorist attacks in Iraq, but did you check out the Afghan-mountain resort areas? I'll bet you my very last suicide belt that every hotel in the area is swarming with vacationing terrorists. Shallow-minded and hidebound people like you think that terrorists never take time off to relax. Terrorists are human beings too and they deserve time off just like you and me. Your abhorrent display of xenophobia towards the terrorist community is typical of the right-wing bias floating around the blogosphere! Just grow up, already, you, terrorist-bashing xenophobe!

[southdakotaboy]

rwilymz you say it is only a partial statement of the facts I think that you are not taking into account the effect of the growth of alternative media. Before the conservative revolution of 1994 the msm controled the flow of information. Conservatives got around that by working with the Christian Right and using direct mail. The Republican party was able to ride this new information wave to victory. Since then we have had the massive growth of the internent. People are now able to have instant access to politicians.
Many people on both the right and left are talking about the rise of third parties. While I personally like the idea of third parties what I think will happen first is a series of swings between the two parties. What I mean by this is that controle of Congress will be shifted every election for the forseeable future, there will be at the same time growth in the national infrastructure of third parties. In About ten years we will see the demise of one or both of the two major parties.

[Purple Avenger]

"go vacationing in the cool and pristine Afghani-Pakistani mountains."

Or Britain...

[Kamil Al Quadsy]

"go vacationing in the cool and pristine Afghani-Pakistani mountains."

"Or Britain..."

No, no, no! Britain is just a stopover. There are no direct flights from Iraq to Afghanistan, so many terrorists conveniently stop over in cities like Britain or Glasgow, where they take care of other pressing matters first before taking their connecting flight to Afghanistan or Pakistan. It's called 'traveling, smart'. Why not kill (pardon the expression) 2 birds with one stone? Unfortunately, many innocent terrorist-bystanders have gotten killed in bombing attacks while waiting for their connecting flights, or while driving their vehicles into the airport terminals. Who ever said traveling was safe?

[Phoenix]

Very cool.

Two question: Is there an Afghani-Paki Hilton there and can I get flying miles?

[Cindi]

Two question: Is there an Afghani-Paki Hilton there and can I get flying miles?

Posted by: Phoenix | Sunday, July 01, 2007 at 10:40 PM

Yep, paki your bags and leave the frying to us is their motto.

[seekeronos]

"Yep, paki your bags and leave the frying to us is their motto."

Heh, that's good... I'll have to remember that one. :P

[seekeronos]

Why do I get the feeling that BiS really isn't all that concerned about the plight of "the brown people", (so long as they mow his parents' lawn) ...?

I dunno, but methinks he spends much more time cruising playgrounds and chatrooms for "young talent", if he isn't parked in front of his 'puter playing "World of Warcraft" with his sixth level 70 character and a stale sandwich his mom made him perched on his fat, disgusting, greasy, hairy stomach? (that is, when he isn't checking this site...)

[Fred Beloit]

A short but good read for our Leftist friends: "A rational, healthy fear of Islam's barbaric medievalism and its desire to subjugate the entire human race under the yoke of its god is perfectly appropriate and continually justified by the fanatical behavior of millions of Muslims everywhere on the planet. There is something terriby wrong with this religion and its followers; and it threatens every civilized person.

This is not Islamophobia; this is common sense.

And, as a parallel, there is something terribly wrong with the political left and anyone who is able to continue to pretend that terrorism is just some vast right wing conspiracy promulgated by the Bu$hies and Big Business to oppress the masses. They can rationalize, minimize, distort, deny, ignore, and delude themselves all they want; they can add some mixed-up Greens to the SALAD and scream about global warming; but it is very hard not to laugh--and they really do suffer from a debilitating and crippling cognitive malfunction." [SALAD is an acronym similar to Progressive Brain Disorder (PBD) but a lot more scientific sounding. This is from a Dr Sanity post at PJM. FB]

[Terry Gain]

More disingenuous "brown people" fixation from our resident loser, BIS. A day late too. Try to keep up. Proclamations of surrender aren't effective unless made in a timely fashion.

[philmon]

Hey.

Whisper when you say stuff like that.

Dang.

[Phoenix]

Seek,

There is no way I'm flying your airlines no matter if you keep the frying up to your blind attendents:

SEEK AND YE SHALL FLY AIRLINES - Our blind attendents will feel you up all ze vay to make sure of comfort.

.
ha ha ha....

(Nice rip on Robbie. I know he's enjoying the used vacation travel trailer pulled behind the old Dodge truck with no tailgate.)

[Terry Gain]

"Back to Taco Bell". Let us know when you get your second university degree, loser.

Nice of your daddy to give you a vacation home. Enjoy it, as well as the freedom provided to you by people whose efforts you denigrate. Loser.

[Terry Gain]

Never heard of Abdul Rahman Yasin, have you? Didn't think so.

[Terry Gain]

"I wonder what ever happened to him?"

I wonder why you say such stupid things. Even dolts like you know what happened to McVeigh. The connection between McVeigh and Rahman is about as apparent as your ability to think.

Continue disparaging the valorous and winning efforts of people with whom you have nothing in common. Idiot.

[jong]

BAGHDAD, July 4 -- Nearly five months into a security strategy that involves thousands of additional U.S. and Iraqi troops patrolling Baghdad, the number of unidentified bodies found on the streets of the capital was 41 percent higher in June than in January, according to unofficial Health Ministry statistics.

During the month of June, 453 unidentified corpses, some bound, blindfolded, and bearing signs of torture, were found in Baghdad, according to morgue data provided by a Health Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

In January, 321 corpses were discovered in the capital, a total that fell steadily until April but then rose sharply over the last two months, the statistics show.