Iraq Security Adviser Says Violence Levels Falling
The level of violence in Baghdad has fallen sharply since July thanks to troop reinforcements and the new government's efforts to reconcile warring Shiites and Sunnis, Iraq's national security adviser said on Aug. 22.Think of it as a large gang fight.
Mowaffaq al-Rubaie insisted that the sectarian and insurgent bloodshed that has seized Iraq was not a civil war, a description U.S. President George W. Bush's administration has strenuously avoided in the face of mounting casualties.
He challenged the notion that violence was out of control in the Iraqi capital, saying it had peaked last month. "The surge was only until mid-July," he said. "The number of attacks is down from mid-July by 45 percent and extra-judicial murders ... are down 35 percent since mid-July. We're there, we're definitely on the mend."
Washington has poured thousands of troop reinforcements into Baghdad in recent weeks, after surging violence frustrated plans to start withdrawing some forces before the end of the year.
Click me
More on the down turn in violence here. (from reuters no less!)
U.S. military upbeat on Baghdad clampdown
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Violence in Baghdad has declined in the past two weeks and all but ended in some formerly deadly neighbourhoods, the U.S. military said in a cautiously upbeat report on Tuesday on a major security clampdown in the city.
Twenty-two raids in the past week against such groups in the capital had led to 37 arrests, Major General William Caldwell told a news conference. He presented statistics showing a 16 percent drop in the daily average of attacks in Baghdad since August 7, at 21 compared to 25 in the preceding two months.
"There are positive things occurring and people are seeing it," Caldwell said. "This is not something that's going to happen overnight. But all the signs are very positive."
I'm sure the msm will be all over this one.
