BAGHDAD, Oct. 31, 2008
U.S. Deaths In Iraq Plunge To Wartime Low
Thirteen Fatalities In October Matches Previous Record Low Set In July
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A flag placed by a Boy Scout sits in front of a World War II soldier's head stone ahead of Memorial Day at Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, N.Y., May 26, 2007. (AP Photo/Ed Betz)
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Photo Essay Week In Iraq Photos A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
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Interactive Iraq: 5 Years At War Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, the war wears on.
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.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 29 CommentsUh.... what has this guy been smoking?
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...
sounds like it should be signed Dragonqueen in stead of dragonking.
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?
And to think that had the Bush klan not lied, the death toll would have been zero.
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?
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
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?
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
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You left out Colin Powell -- who just endorsed Barack Hussein Obama.
"I inhaled frequently" "That was the point"
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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.
Posted by trishab56 at 09:01 PM : Oct 31, 2008
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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.
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''.
ARE WE THERE YET?
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