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| Iraq |
| Iraqi casualties at highest level since August |
| 2008-04-02 |
| Fighting between security forces and Shi'ite militiamen last month has driven civilian deaths in Iraq to their highest level in more than six months, government figures showed on Tuesday. Britain responded to renewed violence in the southern city of Basra by delaying plans to bring home 1,500 of its 4,000 troops in Iraq. A total of 923 civilians were killed in March, up 31 percent from February and the deadliest month since August 2007, according to data compiled by Iraq's interior, defense and health ministries and obtained by Reuters. The figures are a blow to the Iraqi government and the United States, which have pointed to reduced overall levels of violence in recent months as evidence that a major security offensive has made significant progress. Hundreds of people were killed and many more wounded in last week's fighting after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on Shi'ite militiamen in Basra. Many of the dead were civilians caught in the crossfire. Basra was relatively calm for a second straight day on Tuesday after Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called his fighters off the streets on Sunday. A Reuters reporter in the city said more shops were open and people were out on the streets although many schools and government offices were still shut. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 This is the highest level seen since August and is (only) 923? How the heck did the idjits at the Lancet ever come up with death tolls of 600,000? |
| Posted by: Omemble Wittlesbach5601 2008-04-02 14:03 |
| #3 "civilians" being largely Mahdi dead guys, Rooters? Tet II, catch the fever™! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-04-02 13:33 |
| #2 The figures are a blow to the Iraqi government and the United States, which have pointed to reduced overall levels of violence in recent months as evidence that a major security offensive has made significant progress. I can hear the cycles of surging violence getting ready to overwhelm the overstretched landsers. Cliches, I has them. |
| Posted by: Zebulon Angavick7428 2008-04-02 12:52 |
| #1 The figures are a blow to the Iraqi government and the United States, which have pointed to reduced overall levels of violence in recent months as evidence that a major security offensive has made significant progress. An outstanding example of poorly reasoned, tendentious editorializing posing as "reporting". This, along with egregiously distorted selection of facts, constitute the core pathologies of today's failed journalism. It's also an excellent example of a sub-pathology within the overall disaster. A very real and significant development, full of meaning for the trajectory of the larger story - the improved security situation in most of Iraq, the rout of AQI, the disarray and distress of other Sunni rejectionist elements - was largely ignored as it unfolded. But once a bump arrears in the road - the Basra stuff - the phenomenon is referred to, in the past tense, in a way that casts doubt on its importance. Oh to be the chief editor for a day at any major news agency. The marked up copy would be hilarious and instructive, posted on the web for all to see. Some dispatches wouldn't have 25% of their words left intact. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2008-04-02 12:38 |