U.S. Deaths In Iraq Plunge To Wartime Low

Thirteen Fatalities In October Matches Previous Record Low Set In July

(AP)  U.S. deaths in Iraq fell in October to their lowest monthly level of the war, matching the record low of 13 fatalities suffered in July. Iraqi deaths fell to their lowest monthly levels of the year.

Eight of the 13 Americans died in combat, most of them in northern Iraq where al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgent groups remain active. The U.S. military suffered 25 deaths in September and 23 in August.

In Afghanistan, meanwhile, 15 U.S. military deaths were reported for October. The monthly toll in that combat theater had been in the 20s since June, when 28 Americans were killed - the worst one-month total since that war began in late 2001.

The sharp drop in American fatalities in Iraq reflects the overall security improvements across the country following the Sunni revolt against al Qaeda and the rout suffered by Shiite extremists in fighting last spring in Basra and Baghdad.

But the decline also points to a shift in tactics by extremist groups, which U.S. commanders say are now focusing their attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police that are doing much of the fighting.

Iraqi government figures showed at least 364 Iraqis killed in October - including police, soldiers, civilians and militants.

Despite the sharp decline, the Iraqi death toll serves as a reminder that this remains a dangerous, unstable country despite the security gains, which U.S. military commanders repeatedly warn are fragile and reversible.

U.S. commanders are also worried that security could worsen if the Iraqi parliament refuses to approve a new security agreement by the end of December, when the U.N. Security Council mandate under which the coalition operates in Iraq expires.

Without a new agreement or a new U.N. mandate, U.S. military operations would have to stop. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government is pressing for changes in the draft agreement before submitting it to parliament.

Much of that concern focuses on Mosul, Iraq's third largest city about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a new operation Oct. 15 to clear al Qaeda and other insurgent groups from the city.

Violence occurs almost daily in Mosul, although the U.S. military says attacks there are down by almost half since May.

Attacks and threats against Christians in Mosul prompted about 13,000 of them to flee the city in early October.

On Friday, a local official, Jawdat Ismaeel, said Christians were trickling back after police and soldiers increased patrols and checkpoints in Christian neighborhoods. He said that 35 Christian families, about 210 people, returned in the past week and that the exodus from the city had largely stopped.

The Iraqi government has offered each Christian family that returns 1 million Iraqi dinars - about $865 - although officials say the response so far has been lukewarm.

Also Friday, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh announced that Iraq and Iran have agreed to exchange bodies of soldiers killed during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. He said the exchange - 200 Iraqi bodies for 41 Iranian - would take place Nov. 15 at a border post that he did not identify.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides were killed or went missing during the war.

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced Oct. 16 that the two countries agreed on how to gather and share information about the missing and hand over any remains uncovered.

[lemonskink]

13 more empty chairs.

http://ugv.abcnews.go.com/player.aspx?id=6305372

[hennighg]

Bush''s economic policy has run even the terrorist out of ammunition money.

Forget statistics. Those are lives lost. Even one is too many.

[whitemale08]

Doesn''t matter, still wasn''t worth all the American lives lost and the sacrifice of our economy.

Deaths could go down to zero and it still won''t stop the surge of deaths once we left. This is the fundamental reason why the ''surge'' has failed; the ''surge'' was only a ''stop gap'' measure that has no way of ''success''.

This is why John McCain with all of his war experience lacks the serious judgement to be President.

He ought know better that there is no ''military solution'' in an unwanted unwarranted occupation. Nobody is looking for an ''excuse'' to stay there for a 100 years only junkyard dogs like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh who are just trying to ''save face''.

It''s heart-breaking to see the death and destruction wrought by George W. Bush for no reason. His actions have caused the death of 3 times more Iraqis then Ronald Reagans puppet Saddam Hussein could of ever did.

This is not good news because Republican ''face savers'' will use this as an excuse to occupy Iraq for the next 100 years.

[chadb19]

This is all good but why then ARE THERE STILL 150,000 TROOPS STILL THERE!!!???? Show me real US troop declines and Ill believe in the progress!!

[stloubill]

Meanwhile, AlQaeda are running wild in Afghanistan. Nice job, Bush.

[jeannettelj]

SO WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HAPPY THAT "ONLY" 13 SOLDIERS DIED IN OCTOBER IN A WAR THAT WAS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY. NOW THERE ARE 13 FAMILIES THAT WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN. MY DAUGHTER DIED NEARLY TWO YEARS AGO AND I CAN TELL YOU FOR A FACT THAT THE PAIN NEVER GOES AWAY.

[spinproof]

This is good news, but an argument can also be made that there should never have been any war deaths of Americans in Iraq at all.

[lucymercer]

Well isn''t that special? I bet there would be even fewer deaths if we hadn''t invaded Iraq at all!!

[spinproof]

If McCain wins he will bring back the draft and go after Iran for Israel, the U.S. will be in endless wars for 100 more years like McCain promised. McCain does not have an economic Policy because McCain''s economic Policy is to give Americans jobs fighting in his wars and continuing the wars Bush started. McWar!

[rudy654-2009]

Unfortunately, the Christian population of over a thousand years is being slaughtered daily with no place to go.

[inventagod2]

ARE WE THERE YET?

[nler1]

Died on a pack of lies, are you proud now, criminal Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney ad all those other warcriminals.

They are the Hitler, Himler, Goebels of our time, put them in jail and execute that scum.
Including those journalist who paid lipservice to ''sell the war''.

[ppaaxx]

Obama will bring them home,

Posted by trishab56 at 09:01 PM : Oct 31, 2008

-----

LMAO. You Democrats sure are gullible! The war will go on until Barack Obama negotiates a "surrender" and abandons Iraq. Exactly what President Nixon did in 1973.

Paris Peace Accords of 1973. Bull$h!t. North Vietnam waited a couple of years then invaded South Vietnam. Congress did nothing. The U.S. violated its own agreement to defend South Vietnam if it was attacked.

[ppaaxx]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpBzQI_7ez8

"I inhaled frequently" "That was the point"

-----

Barack Obama admits smoking marijuana. Someone pointed out that as a senator, Obama passed a security clearance. Therefore, he must be a natural born citizen and it''s not necessary that he produce a copy of his original birth certificate.

When I went for my security clearance examination, I told the truth. I smoked marijuana when I was a soldier in South Vietnam but not since. The officer was livid. He told me that I DIDN''T smoke marijuana and then passed me.

Since Barack Obama publicly admits smoking marijuana, his security clearance should be revoked. And it''s likely that there are other faults in his security clearance. Probably, his natural-born citizenship was not verified.

[ppaaxx]

...criminal Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney ad all those other war criminals.

They are the Hitler, Himler, Goebels of our time, put them in jail and execute that scum.
Including those journalist who paid lipservice to ''sell the war''.

Posted by NLer1 at 05:06 AM : Nov 01, 2008

-----

You left out Colin Powell -- who just endorsed Barack Hussein Obama.

[ppaaxx]

Check out...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8

[petro49l]

Why keep that many American Soldiers in Iraq? Sunni Militias have done a fine job expelling Al Qada. The Coalition needs more troops in Afghanistan. Bin Laden trafficks narcotics world-wide. He can deal drugs over the Internet and then he uses parcel carrier service to deliver illicit substances. A.Q.''s laboratories create PCP, LSD, tar heroin, methamphetamine, potent mushrooms, and exotic hashish. The Organization promotes addiction, forcible sexual rape, psychotic propaganda, and drug-induced acts of terror.

[joe-truth]

pythoncharly, Your ad hominem attack concedes my point and your wrong facts defeats your position. Thank you. I think you need to read more, get your facts right. Then go look at Joe-Vet on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8

Tell him what you said about the war. Do something constructuve. Research him. Call him on the phone. Tell him. Do you have the guts or are you just another coward hiding behind your keyboard?

[shyam8]

George Bush brought democracy to Iraq. We gave these repressed people freedom.

[excoachken]

I seem to remember (back when our young were being sent home in planes filled with body bags, that the government had a "Policy" of not releasing a body count. What changed this "Policy'' other than an election campaign and the NIxon style of "Declare Victory and run like Hell out of the area."

[ajaxtheleast]

And how many months if not YEARS were these
happy little election-time Iraqi news inserts
planned to help the Republican presidential
nominee??,,,,

"The macho bombings in Pakistan by the
"super advanced technology" of the drones
deployed by the commander-in-chief was sure
as hell meant to attract more attention
than 35-count-''em-35 comments on a web site.

"Too cynical" can never be applied to
a reaction suggesting that the motivation
behind a George W. Bush move is dispicable.

And one "suggestion" is,,,the only reason we
are now seeing "25 bombed in Pakistan",,,,
,,"20 bombed in Pakistan" is for the impact
of the mere reporting there-of on the
macho blood thirsty McCain voters to get
them out to the polls

[nobama4]

Dont let the libtards read this, they may start to realize the war in Iraq is nothing like Vietnam, what would they b i t c h about then?

[brianbwb-2009]

"Thirteen Fatalities In October Matches Previous Record Low Set In July"

And to think that had the Bush klan not lied, the death toll would have been zero.

[ajmarine111]

Posted by dragonking5 at 11:27 AM : Nov 01, 2008


dragon, you seem to be an intelligent person and put a lot of thought and time into what you are doing,..........but just what is it that you are doing?

[middleman8]

dragonking ???

sounds like it should be signed Dragonqueen in stead of dragonking.

[ubrew12]

U.S. Deaths In Iraq Plunge To Wartime Low"

This is truly excellent news!

General Petraeus is a miracle worker. Any chance of his raising the dead? Oh well, I''ll take the good news I can get...

[jayfl11]

Deaths in Iraq are down and homicides in Chicago are higher? Perhaps we should pull out of Chicago.

[nordeck52]

Posted by dragonking5 at 02:59 PM : Nov 01, 2008

Uh.... what has this guy been smoking?

[revdrdark]

Well, glad to know that 13 is an acceptable number. They were all young people, and they are all still dead, ************.