From TIME Magazine, 6/6/07:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1629812,00.html?xid=rss-topstories
Iraq's Ominous Numbers Game
By MARK KUKIS/BAGHDAD
With most of the U.S. military's surge troops already in place, the
numbers are starting to come in on how well it has succeeded in its
goal of reducing sectarian violence in Iraq.
And they aren't encouraging.
Sectarian violence is nearly back to its pre-surge levels in Iraq —
and rising.
Recent weeks have seen greater murder rates.
And the numbers seem unlikely to go down with so much of Baghdad still
uncontrolled;
U.S. commanders recently acknowledged that two-thirds of the capital
remain unsecured.
According to figures compiled by the Brookings Institution at the end
of May, the number of sectarian murders, carried out mainly by Shi'ite
death squads against Sunnis, has risen noticeably in recent weeks
after a drop-off that began in the latter part of February.
Sectarian deaths are often described as "extra-judicial killings"
(EJKs) and involve the abduction, torture and murder of the victim,
with the body usually left on the street.
In May, says the Brookings report, citing Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen.
Peter Pace, there were roughly 700 EJKs across Baghdad.
While still lower than the pre-surge figure of 800 in February, that's
a substantial increase from the estimated 500 in each of March and
April, the first two months of the surge.
So far in June, about 20 bodies have appeared on the streets of
Baghdad a day; at that rate, at least 600 murder victims will surface
in Baghdad by the end of the June.
Meanwhile, the number of bombings targeting civilians in Baghdad, the
chief tactic of Sunni extremists out to kill masses of Shi'ites, has
remained roughly the same since the surge began, at about 50 per
month.
______________________________________________________
From The Washington Post, 6/8/07:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/07/AR2007060702533.html?nav=rss_email/components
Nominee to Coordinate War Offers Grim Forecast on Iraq
Harry
.
|
