JUAN COLE: FIGURES GIVE LIE TO REPORTS OF PROGRESS IN IRAQ

Juan Cole is rightly incredulous that anyone in Washington thinks that the situation is improving in Iraq. Writes Cole:

"I personally find the controversy about Iraq in Washington to be bizarre. Are they really arguing about whether the situation is improving? I mean, you have the Night of the Living Dead over there. People lack potable water, cholera has broken out even in the good areas, a third of people are hungry, a doubling of the internally displaced to at least 1.1 million, and a million pilgrims dispersed just this week by militia infighting in a supposedly safe all-Shiite area. The government has all but collapsed, with even the formerly cooperative sections of the Sunni Arab political class withdrawing in a snit (much less more Sunni Arabs being brought in from the cold). The parliament hasn't actually passed any legislation to speak of and often cannot get a quorum. Corruption is endemic. The weapons we give the Iraqi army are often sold off to the insurgency. Some of our development aid goes to them, too."

And how about Iraqi civilian casualties? Perhaps they are down. Not so, says Cole:

"The average number of Iraqis killed in 2007 per day exceeds those killed in 2006. Independent counts by news organizations do not agree with Pentagon estimates about drops in civilian deaths over-all. Nation-wide attacks in June reached a daily all-time high of 177.5. True, violence in Baghdad has been wrestled back down to the levels of summer, 2006 (hint: it wasn't paradise), but violence levels are up in the rest of the country. If you compare each month in 2006 with each month in 2007 with regard to US military deaths, the 2007 picture is dreadful."

Well, then, how about U.S. military deaths? They certainly must be down. Wrong again, and here Cole presents a table comparing U.S. deaths in 2007 versus 2006:

"I saw on CNN this smarmy Bush administration official come and and say that US troop deaths had fallen because of the surge, which is why we should support it. Just read the following chart bottom to top and compare 2006 month by month to 2007. US troop deaths haven't fallen. They are way up. Besides, they would be zero if the US were not occupying Iraq militarily, so if we should support a policy that leads to fewer troop deaths, that is the better policy."

"Here are the US troop death via Icasualties.org.

77 in August 2007 vs. 65 in August 2006
79 in July 2007 vs. 43 in July 2006
101 in June 2007 vs. 61 in June 2006
126 in May 2007 vs. 69 in May 2006
104 in April 2007 vs. 76 in April 2006
81 in March 2007 vs. 31 in March 2006
81 in February 2007 vs. 55 in February 2006
83 in January 2007 vs. 62 in January 2006

Comparing the numbers, the U.S. casualties for 2007 are much worse than 2006. For example, in August 2007, the number of U.S. military deaths was 77, as compared to August 2006 with only 65. And this increase of 2007 over 2006 applies to every month so far.

So how can Bush or anyone else say there is "progress" in Iraq? Or that violence is down? Or that the surge is working? The spin here from the Bush & Co. is incredible, and it is all for the purpose of continuing this unjustified and immoral war.