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| 17 Days Campaigning for the Commander. |
The general has some
questions to answer already, not the least of which is the reported chasm
he has with Admiral Fallon on troop reductions.
As for his testimony today, National
Security Network is on it.
Petraeus: Iraq-wide, as shown by the top line on this chart, the number
of ethno-sectarian deaths has come down by over 55%,The Pentagon and Administration’s definition of “Ethno sectarian
violence” excludes many types of violence that would indicate that the
security situation in Iraq is not improving. Shi’a on Shi’a violence
in the South is not included. Sunni on Sunni violence in the central part
of the country is not included. “According to one senior intelligence
official in Washington. ‘If a bullet went through the back of the head,
it’s sectarian,’ the official said. ‘If it went through the front,
it’s criminal.’” [Washington
Post, 9/6/07]According to numbers released by the Iraqi government, since July civilian
casualties have risen 20% across Iraq. The numbers fell significantly in Baghdad.
The figures, provided by Iraqi Interior Ministry officials on Saturday, mirrored
the geographic pattern of the troop increase, which is focused on Baghdad.
The national rise in mortality is partly a result of more than 500 deaths,
in an August truck bomb attack on a Yazidi community in August north of the
capital, outside the areas directly affected by the additional troops. [NY
Times, 9/2/07]Various numbers from the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior show no drop in violence.
According to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, 984 people were killed across
Iraq in February, and 1,011 died in violence in August. No July numbers were
released because the ministry said the numbers weren’t clear. But an official
in the ministry who spoke anonymously because he wasn’t authorized to release
numbers said those numbers were heavily manipulated. The official said 1,980
Iraqis had been killed in July and that violent deaths soared in August, to
2,890. [McClatchy, 9/10/07]
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