More Surge Statistics

Here we go with another post about the Iraq war surge, but I can’t help it. We don’t get any of this news on the mainstream media, so everytime I come across an article like the one below I am going to post it. The more people that hear about this subject the better.

From the New Hampshire Union Leader:

Surging forward: Early results for Bush’s Iraq plan

Bad news for the cut-and-run crowd: The Bush administration’s new plan for Iraq appears to be working.

Earlier this week, while Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden was wailing on the Senate floor, urging President Bush to “stop this ridiculous policy you have,” and while Democrats in Congress were working on plans to require the quick withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq, military spokesmen in Baghdad were detailing the progress “Operation Enforcing the Law” has achieved since it began a month ago.

During the first 30 days of the U.S.-led security crackdown, the number of Iraqis killed by violence in Baghdad was 265, down from 1,440 the previous month, Brigadier Qassim Moussawi, the Iraqi spokesman, said. Bomb deaths in the city decreased by 30 percent, execution-style slayings by half. More than 2,000 residents who had fled sectarian violence returned to their homes. Car bombs remained a threat, but those also decreased, from 56 the previous month to 36 after the crackdown began.

Another telling sign: Shoppers have returned to Baghdad’s open-air markets, favorite targets of car bombers.

“The achievements of the last 30 days cannot only be evaluated by numbers and statistics,” Moussawi said, “but must also take into account the confidence of ordinary Iraqis that a positive change is taking place regarding security and being felt by people.”

While warning that a reversal of the car-bomb trend would set off a renewed cycle of violence, Major Gen. William Caldwell, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said that U.S. troops have stepped up efforts to prevent such a reversal from happening. Security operations have expanded beyond Baghdad, he said, to predominately Sunni areas where car bombs are believed to be assembled.

“If the high-profile car bombs can be stopped or brought down to a much lower level, we’ll just see an incredible difference in the city overall,” Caldwell said.

The developments of the past month are encouraging. Only two of the five brigades of the 21,500-troop surge are in place. A strengthened force can only increase the momentum already begun.