Post a Comment On: Internal Monologue

Kevin Drum looks at the numbers and it doesn't look like even the military aspect of the moderate troop increase dubbed "the surge" is working:

June/July 2006
June/July
2007
Iraqi Military and Police Killed 349 429 Up 23% Multiple Fatality Bombings 110 82 Down 25% # Killed in Mult. Fatality Bombings 885 1,053 Up 19% Iraqi Civilians Killed
(All violent causes) 6,739 5,300 Hard to say1 U.S. Troop Fatalities 104 187 Up 80% U.S. Troops Wounded 983 1,423 Up 45% Size of Insurgency 20,000+ ~70,0002 Up ~250% Attacks on Oil and Gas Pipelines 8 14 (3) Up 75% 1Methodology changed dramatically between 2006 and 2007, so numbers are highly suspect.
2Number is for March 2007.
3Numbers are for June only. No July numbers are available.(HT: rubber hose) Of course, the political reconciliation that was the whole point of the surge is nowhere in sight either. The force and endurance of the delusion of "progress" is truly mind-boggling.