Al-Melaf cites a senior security official that said U.S. troops are in the process of building one of the largest military bases in Baghdad in the middle of Sadr City, the Mahdi Army’s stronghold. The source said that U.S. military officers met with city elders who overwhelmingly approved the U.S. decision, which they said would largely improve security in their district. According to the website, construction of the base will start soon and will employ a large number of the city’s impoverished youth.
Iraqi officials today released data on violence in Baghdad since the "surge" began a month ago:
In an upbeat assessment of the first 30 days of the security plan, Iraqi military spokesman Brigadier Qassim Moussawi said the number of Iraqis killed by violence in Baghdad since February 14 was 265, down from 1,440 killed in the previous month. The number of car bombings, a favorite weapon used by suspected Sunni Arab militants fighting the Shi'ite-led government, was down to 36 from 56, Moussawi told reporters.
The number of car bombings, a favorite weapon used by suspected Sunni Arab militants fighting the Shi'ite-led government, was down to 36 from 56, Moussawi told reporters.
That's more than an 80% reduction in fatalities in Baghdad, obviously a good start for the new strategy. The Iraqi official said that violence had increased in areas outside of Baghdad, presumably because terrorists had left the city. No numbers were given for the increase in areas outside the capital.
It's obviously relevant to know the extent to which increased violence outside Baghdad has offset improvements within the city, but pacifying Baghdad, a task many considered close to impossible, is important in and of itself. Violence outside Baghdad over the last couple of years has actually been lower than most people realize; it was the violence in the capital that caused many to fear that the Iraqi government couldn't function. If Baghdad can be secured, the Iraqi government should have time to continue addressing the terrorist threat in other areas of the country.
03/13/07
BAGHDAD - A Katyusha rocket landed on the commercial street of Karrada in central Baghdad, killing two people and wounding two others, police said. Another police source put the death toll at four, with four wounded.
2
0
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded two people in northern Baghdad, police said.
1
BAGHDAD - A total of 15 bodies with gunshot wounds were found on Monday in different districts of Baghdad, police said.
15
BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed four worshippers and wounded another in a drive-by shooting as they left a small Sunni Muslim mosque in Risala in southern Baghdad, police sources said. Another police source put the death toll at five.
4
BAGHDAD - Gunmen opened fire at a police vehicle killing three policemen and wounding two in Zayuna district in eastern Baghdad, police said.
3
BAGHDAD - Gunmen opened fire on the car of a judge named Omar Abdul Nabi in Karrada in central Baghdad, killing him and two other people and wounding one person, a police source said.
BAGHDAD - The bodies of 17 people were found in different parts of Baghdad, a police source said.
17
03/11/07
BAGHDAD - A car bomb attack in Baghdad’s central Karrada district killed 31 Shia devotees and wounded 25 more as their convoy returned from Karbala...Of the wounded, five were in critical condition, according to a medic at Baghdad’s Ibn Nafis hospital.
31
BAGHDAD - A car bomb parked on the side of the road killed one Iraqi soldier and wounded another in the Yarmouk district of western Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber in a minibus killed 10 people and wounded eight between Talbiya Bridge and Mustansiriya Square, in an area of northeastern Baghdad near the Shi'ite militia stronghold of Sadr City, a police source said.
10
BAGHDAD - A total of 20 bodies were found shot dead on Sunday in different districts of Baghdad, police said.
20
BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed Amar al-Zigam, a local tribal leader, in a drive-by shooting in Shula district of western Baghdad, police said.
03/10/07
BAGHDAD - A Katyusha rocket killed one pilgrim and wounded five others when it landed in Baghdad's Shi'ite Kadhimiya district, police sources said.
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed one civilian and wounded two others when it blew up in a central Baghdad intersection, police said.
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber killed one soldier and wounded two others when he blew up his vehicle at an Iraqi Army checkpoint in western Baghdad's Jamia district, police said.
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber killed six Iraqi soldiers and wounded some 20 civilians when his car was stopped by a military checkpoint at an entrance to the Shi'ite slum of Sadr City, the U.S. military said.
6
BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed two pilgrims and wounded four when they attacked their vehicle near Sadr City, police said.
BAGHDAD - Gunmen opened fire on a police patrol in the Abu Ghraib district on the western outskirts of Baghdad, killing one policeman and two civilians, a police source said.
BAGHDAD - The bodies of 15 people were found shot dead in different parts of Baghdad on Saturday, a police source said
BAGHDAD - U.S. forces opened fire on a car they said failed to stop at a checkpoint in Adhamiya in northern Baghdad, killing three people and wounding three on Friday.
03/09/07
BAGHDAD - Ten bodies were found shot dead in different parts of Baghdad on Friday, apparent victims of sectarian death squads, a police source said.
03/07/07
BAGHDAD - A car bomb in Saidiya in southern Baghdad killed seven Shi'ite pilgrims and a policeman, a police source said.
7
8
BAGHDAD - Gunmen targeting Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims killed one pilgrim and wounded three others in the Nahdha area of central Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - Gunmen wounded six pilgrims in Baghdad as they were heading to the holy city of Kerbala to commemorate the Arbain, the end of 40 days of mourning since Ashura, which marks the death of Prophet Mohammad's grandson in 680, police said.
BAGHDAD - Insurgents ambushed Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims in southern Baghdad, killing seven and wounding 27 with a roadside bomb, police sources said.
Baghdad - Police found 10 corpses all over the capital in the following neighborhoods: 3 in Amil, 2 in Baia, 1 in Mansour, 1 in Taji, 2 in Dora and 1 in Saidiyah.
Baghdad - Twelve Iraqi National Police and 10 Iraqi civilians were killed in a car bomb attack on a checkpoint in southern Baghdad Mar. 7.
12
22
You wouldn't know screwy math if it ran you over with a truck. (see above)
This from the guy who doesn’t know the difference between Dominica and the Dominican Republic (see above)
The UN report has been branded as "grossly exaggerated" by the very source that provided it to the UN.
...maybe that needs repeated.
The UN report has been branded as "grossly exaggerated" by the very source that provided it to the UN
That’s funny because the same organization provided numbers that were not questioned by authorities for the Congo, Rwanda, Darfur, Bosnia, Afghanistan, etc. The Iraqi government states the number from the UN is “grossly exaggerated” even though it gave them the numbers, but then doesn’t explain why the UN would “grossly exaggerate” the numbers.
That screwy math is the sole reason that official figures are no longer available
No the reason the official figures are no longer available is because they make the Iraqi government look bad.
Still you'll cling to the worst possible number you were fed and just accept it as gospel. Say 100...even better 115+...are dying every day...minimum.. I dare you. you're just palin wrong. Happens to the best of them. It's no rose garden and the last half of 06 was brutal by any standards... but you've got the wrong number from the wrong source (the UN is not the source of that info).
No the worst possible numbers I could “cling to” are the Lancet numbers. The numbers the UN used are the same numbers that Brookings uses to track civilian deaths in Iraq. The UN got their info from hospitals and the Medical Legal Institute of Baghdad, and the Iraqi government didn’t have a problem with their count until Oct. 2006 when violence escalated in Iraq, and naturally more dead bodies started showing up.
There are three estimates generally used to calculate the number of Iraqi civilians killed by post-war violence:
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