Max Boot writes in the LA Times today:
These results include, according to a well-placed officer in Baghdad, a 48% decline in civilian deaths across the entire country since December 2006 and a whopping 74% reduction in Baghdad, the focus of American and Iraq security efforts… Far from being already lost, as [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid said in April, the war is being won.
That’s true — as long as you don’t, you know, actually count all the people being killed. From a news report in the LA Times, Sept. 4:
According to U.S. military figures, an average of 1,000 Iraqis have died each month since March in sectarian violence. That compares with about 1,200 a month at the start of the security plan, the military said in an e-mailed response to queries. This does not include deaths from car bombings, which the military said have numbered more than 2,600 this year.
Figures from Iraqi government ministries point to far higher casualty numbers and show that this year, an average of 1,724 civilians a month have died in sectarian attacks, bombings and other war-related violence.
In February, the civilian death toll was 1,646. Last month, it was 1,773, according to numbers from officials in the ministries of Defense, Interior and Health, who cite morgue, hospital and police reports. It was the second straight month that casualties have increased since the security plan began.
What’s the explanation for the big discrepancy in these figures, from the same newspaper? Well, you see, one of these writers is a news reporter, and is therefore expected to actually do some checking. The other is an opinion writer, and is allowed by his editors to quote people anonymously, and generally talk out of his ass.
Guess which is which? Go on, it’s not hard.
