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News from the front

By lex, on September 7th, 2007

US combat casualties down since surge.

(Some) US citizens pissed.

Ecce: 21st century America.

It is to cry.

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September 7th, 2007 | Tags: | Category: GWOT

9 comments to News from the front

  • Skippy-san
    September 7, 2007 at 6:44 pm

    Isn’t that statement more than a little misleading? True they are down since what they were in January but they are higher than they were last year. In some cases they are double what they were during the same period last year.

    That does not even begin to address the fact that Iraqi casulties are at an all time high. You can look at the numbers over at this web site.

  • lex
    September 7, 2007 at 6:51 pm

    Combat casualties, Skip. You have to keep up.

    “So what happened?” Seibel wrote. “Not what had been predicted. U.S. deaths caused by enemy action peaked at 120 in May, before the surge reached full strength or Operation Phantom Thunder was launched. Combat casualties then fell consistently for the next three months, reaching a low of 56 in August. That’s the lowest number of combat casualties all year. You have to go back to July 2006 to find combat casualties at that level.”

    Did you read all of the links?

  • MaxDamage
    September 7, 2007 at 10:46 pm

    This reminds me of an episode of “All in the Family,” for those younger than I a sitcom with a conservative father, dingbat mother, liberal daughter and meathead son-in-law.

    Gloria: “Did you know that X number of people last year were killed with handguns?”

    Archie: “Would it make you feel any better little girl if they were pushed out of windows?”

    We seem to focus on casualties, as if they were the sole measure of winning or losing a war.

    – Max

  • Jennifer
    September 8, 2007 at 12:53 am

    Hey Max,
    I agree with you, that is not the only marker of where stand in the war. However, that is what the mass media generally looks at. So hence, that is what is focused on.

    I will tell you, lower casulaties…. that sounds good to me.

  • Unkawill
    September 8, 2007 at 3:00 am

    Some real News from the front!

    I have arrived safley at my base, It’s hot and dusty, and I have not heard an Explosion all day.

    I could NOT say That the last time I was here, the part about explosion’s any way

  • Unkawill
    September 8, 2007 at 3:02 am

    Must use spell check, except I can’t find it on this Gov’t computer.

  • Unkawill
    September 8, 2007 at 3:10 am

    Max, That would be a Bigot for the Dad, and Ding/Moonbats for the rest of the cast.

  • Skippy-san
    September 8, 2007 at 4:39 am

    I read the articles-it seems to me McClatchey is parsing the numbers a little too fine- I would also say “pissed” is an over statement-taking issue with the analysis and the conclusions is more accurate. That’s hardly pissed off that at least the trend is right direction.

    However, even if you use their methodology the number of combat fatalities exceeds the number from the same month of every month of the previous year. The only month that is a wash is August and the jury is still out on September.

    Statisically it could be attributed to several factors including the presence of about 25% more troops in Iraq. Then again I would submit statistical reasoning is no consolation to the families of all the Servicemen over in Iraq. They just want their GI Joe or Jane home in one piece.

    The reason the whole thing matters is that when you look at the data in macro-across all of Iraq-it does not prove that the country of Iraq is any “less violent or more “stable”.

  • xformed
    September 8, 2007 at 8:25 am

    Combat deaths in Iraq decline; reasons aren’t clear

    Just my observation: When casualties are up, the MSM sure seems to know exactly why, and make sure to get it in a headline format.

    You know: No body armor, no up armored vehicles, stupid leadership, most excellent street pickup “freedom fighters” who can overcome any American capability using old Ak-47s and an 155mm shell with a pressure sensing trigger buried in the road.

    Omniscient when they feel in the right, terribly confused when reality doesn’t seem to match their preconception of the facts before them.
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