Contrary to the military's claims that coalition casualties are falling, a claim that is being parrotted in the as-usual servile and unquestioning mainstream press, including this article from McClatchy, coalition deaths in Iraq have risen sharply. For the last three months during which the "surge" has been in full force, American deaths totalled 261, which compares with 169 killed in the same period last year. That translates into a 54% increase in American troops killed in action year-on-year. In August, 81 Americans were killed, a 25% increase over the number killed in August of 2006, and only slightly lower than the deadliest August- August 2005. And according to icasualties.org the British suffered 19 killed during the same period compared with just two deaths in the comparable three month period last year. So taking into account total coalition killed in action, the number of deaths during the past three full months of the "surge" has increased by nearly two thirds: 109 (+64%).
The McClatchy article, written by Nancy Youssef, which was reprinted in today's Greenwich Time, is titled, "Combat Deaths in Iraq Decline; Reasons Aren't Clear,". Yet the reason is abundantly clear, especially if the reporter had taken a close look at his own bar graph he included with the article: combat in Iraq is seasonal. During the blistering summer months of July and August when the mid-day heat exceeds 110 degrees, even the locals take a break from killing.
Indeed, the number of wounded American troops also rose over the period. Although the full month's figures for August 2007 have yet to be published, for the period of June through August of this year, 1,832 Americans were wounded compared with 1,668 in the same period last year. That converts to a 10% increase year-on-year. In other words, not only have casualties risen during the surge, but the lethality of the fighting and attacks on American and British troops has intensified.
IT appears that American media remain afflicted by the same unquestioning, "sure I'll drink the Koolaid" mentality that was so painfully evident in the New York Times' Judith Miller's horrendously wrong reporting that helped push us into this terrible war to begin with.
Perhaps Ms. Youssef will read these numbers and give it another try. Her readers deserve better.
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