BAGHDAD, Oct. 23, 2007
U.S. Deaths In Iraq Continue To Decline
Officials Credit Troop Surge For Drop In U.S. Military And Iraqi Civilian Deaths
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U.S. Army troops guard a checkpoint in the Mansour district in western Baghdad. The death toll for U.S. soldiers, as well as Iraqi civilians, is on pace to decline for a second straight month in October. (AP Photo/Wisam Sami)
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Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch points to what the military calls "Concerned Citizens" - both Shiites and Sunnis who have joined the American fight. He says he's signed up 20,000 of them in the past four months.
"I've never been more optimistic than I am right now with the progress we've made in Iraq. The only people who are going to win this counterinsurgency project are the people of Iraq. We've said that all along. And now they're coming forward in masses," Lynch said in a recent interview at a U.S. base deep in hostile territory south of Baghdad. Outgoing artillery thundered as he spoke.
Lynch, who commands the 3rd Infantry Division and once served as the military spokesman in Baghdad, is a tireless cheerleader of the American effort in Iraq. But the death toll over the past two months appears to reinforce his optimism. The question, of course: Will it last?
As of Tuesday, the Pentagon has reported 28 U.S. military deaths in October. At the current pace, the monthly total will be about 37 or 38. That would be the lowest total since 31 in March 2006 and the second lowest monthly toll stretching back to February 2004, when 20 soldiers died.
In September, 65 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.
Part of the trend can be seen in a volatile and violent band of lush agricultural land on Baghdad's southern border.
The commander of the battle zone - Lt. Col. Val Keaveny, 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne) - said his unit has lost only one soldier in the past four months despite intensified operations against both Shiite and Sunni extremists, including powerful al Qaeda in Iraq cells.
Keaveny attributes the startling decline to a decrease in attacks by militants who are being rounded up in big numbers on information provided by the citizen force - which has literally doubled the number of eyes and ears available to the military.
In other developments:
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective.
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See all 87 CommentsI AM excited that it is happening, and I should NOT begrudge you for having the same thoughts. Mostly, I''m glad it is happening, because I want us out of there too, but not under just ANY circumstances.
I think to leave in the lurch, would be as big a mistake as us going in on the first place. And, I do think it was a mistake, but given what we knew at the time, I think we would still have done it again. Let''s face it our intelligence was bad. Most of congress said yes, go.
To bail on another group of folks that put their necks on the line, and I think they proved that with the vote, would have be catastrophic for future situations, if we ever got involved. Then our credibility would be challengable by any country.
Anyway - let''s hope the situation continues to get better, and we can turn the problem over to the Iraqis themselves.
Let''s both hope you are wrong drummer94. And, not because of either of us having a liberal or neocon point of view.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War_troop_surge_of_2007
According to wikipedia the President had 6 ideas in mind for the new way forward, two of which were: Help Iraqis protect the population; Isolate extremists.
How else to isolate the extremeists, than enlist the help of the locals which had become very disenchanted with the extremeists indescriminient killing of the population (note the protection of the population point.)
Let me refresh your memory by quoting what folks had to say about Bush''s new plan, - directly from wikipedia:
Other critics have compared Bush''s new plan to "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."
And in Bush''s State of the Union, on 1/27/07 "In order to make progress toward this goal, the Iraqi government must stop the sectarian violence in its capital. But the Iraqis are not yet ready to do this on their own. So we''re deploying reinforcements of more than 20,000 additional soldiers and Marines to Iraq. The vast majority will go to Baghdad, where they will help Iraqi forces to clear and secure neighborhoods, and serve as advisers embedded in Iraqi Army units. With Iraqis in the lead, our forces will help secure the city by chasing down the terrorists, insurgents, and the roaming death squads."
Nice or you to agree with the President - but don''t try to take credit.
I think that some of you will say that the moment the bomb planters ran into a residence that the attack should stop. RRRiiiggghhhttt!!!!! then they should just stop all attacks while the bombers are inside out of view, Rrrriiiiggghhhttt!!! these same people would be very happy if we allowed them to shoot at us without responding. ssshhheeessshhh!!!!!
Isn''t it amazing how all the liberals can''t stay on the topic. What ever happened to all of their prognostication about how the surge wouldn''t help, and General Petraeus lied to us for Bush.
Well the fact is - US deaths CONTINUE to drop.
Whine whine whine
"We can''t fight fires because every one is on Iraq.
Oh, Pa-leeze - how lame can the left get ? Even if EVERY soldier was from California, there would still be millions of abled bodied men to fight the fire.
Buzz Buzz Buzz
"The surge was suppose to give Iraq time to create political reconciliation - so where is it."
It took us 12 years between Declaration of Independence and the Constitution was radified. And, a good deal of that time didn''t have a war happening.
Face it Democrats - you backed the wrong horse - you wanted to cut and run, Republicans wanted to stay the course. We''re winning and Hillary''s now going to have to come up with something new to fake Presidential looks...
And, Bill AIN''T it.
Oops, I forgot, he''s already done that. It was just that it was so long ago.
And it made me think - our nation is NOT at war, our president is at war. And he is ''''fighting'''' in some little dot on the world map, and there are some thugs, not very many, ambushing a few of our ''''troops'''' ocassionally, and Bu$h and Congre$$ are calling it an endless ''''war'''', and throwing all my tax dollars at defense corporations...
This is NOT a war.
A million Californians need help, and the White House needs a photo-op.
What is wrong with America?
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
the Iraqi war is legal, demonic-rat hero oscar, emmy, nobel prize winning al bore says so,,,
it actually never ended since it only stopped by the signing of a ceasefire,,, just like the korean war,,,
the resumption of hostilities was only a matter of time since iraq broke the ceasefire agreement,,,
blame saddam for iraq,,, Even clintoon and the dems wanted the resumption of hostilities back in 1998,,,
"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
"Iraq''s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
Moreover, no international law can prevent the United States from taking actions to protect its vital interests, when it is manifestly clear that there is a choice to be made between law and survival. I believe, however, that such a choice is not presented in the case of Iraq. Indeed, should we decide to proceed, that action can be justified within the framework of international law rather than outside it. In fact, though a new UN resolution may be helpful in building international consensus, the existing resolutions from 1991 are sufficient from a legal standpoint. - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/gore/gore092302sp.html
Thats why democrats are so desperate and hystericals.
Posted by I_Say_So at 08:50 PM : Oct 23, 2007
The surge was suppose to give Iraq time to create political reconciliation - so where is it. One of the goals was an Oil Policy - where is it. It is great that the violence is decreasing in Iraq but that doesn''t make the invasion "legal" in the international courts.
Truth be told, it is not Anwar al Islam (Al Queada in Iraq) who was ever repsonsible for most of US casualties, since there was never more than a couple of thousand of them.
Haven''t you heard, Al SAdr has asked his militias to stand down for now.
Anyway keep those numbers dropping so that we may start to extricate our troops the heck out of their and redeploy.
JAIL BUSH JAIL CHENEY War Criminals, Murderous Thugs, LIED us into Iraq
Try changing the death of "thousands" to hundreds of thousands. Bush and Cheney are the culture of greed and death.
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See all 87 Comments