Well, I just got home from a long day and have been reviewing the various accounts of what Bush's lackeys...err General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker said before Congress today, and one quote jumped out at me right away, specifically, when Ryan Crocker said 2006 was a "bad year for Iraq. The country came close to unraveling politically, economically, and in security terms. 2007 has brought improvement."
Well, that's a bold faced lie, especially when you account for the number of US troop casulaties ever period of this year. My last post compared the individual month casualty numbers from every month of the war showing how 2007 was worse, and that there was no improvement, especially in light of claims to progress and success of the surge.
Well here I repudiate what Crocker said, specifically using casulty numbers from icasualties.org. Let's look at the cumulative numbers of US troop deaths, month to month, from 2006 to 2007.
January
2006--62
2007--83
Hey the surge hadn't even really started yet, and US soldiers had already suffered 34% more casulties.
January-February
2006--117
2007--164
The surge is still in its infancy...and now the troops are dying at a 40% higher rate than last year.
January-March
2006--148
2007--245
Now, the surge is starting to get a little bigger. Petraeus gets his sacrifical troops. That 103 more casualties since last year, and a 65% increase.
January-April
2006--224
2007--349
Now worry, it's only 125 more soldiers. Hey even the percentage increase dropped to 59%. Cheer! The surge is working. The insanity
January-May
2006--293
2007--475
Wow, that's kind of high number and a big increase. 182 more soldiers than last year and a 62% increase. Surge on!
January-June
2006--354
2007--576
The increase is 222 more soldiers than last year and a 63% increase over last year. I can smell the progress.
January-July
2006--397
2007--655
Now it's 258 more soldiers than last year and a 65% increase. How could anybody call this anything but insanity?
January-August
2006--462
2007--739
Wow, the surge must be working, the percent increase in US casualties dropped to 60%. Surge on!
January-September
2006--534
2007--768
This number is only going to get worse. We've still got 20 more days left this month. Only a third of the way to go. How many more men and women are going to lose their lives? How many wifes, husbands, sons, daughters, mothers and fathers will stand in a cemetary saying good-bye way too soon?
Oh just as a bonus:
January-October
2006--640
2007--768
There are still 50 days to go for this one.
These numbers are only going to get worse. Ramadan is here and it is starting to cool down in Iraq. The days are going to get more and more deadly. September thru December are the most lethal months for our soldiers and our men and women are going to pay in blood for every cowardly politician who will use this testimony as political cover. Petraeus will have the blood of all of these soldiers on his hands. The Iraqi politician will use all of this sacrifice to accomplish nothing.