President Bush today cited the growing cholera epidemic in Iraq as evidence that the troop surge is succeeding. He was echoed by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and a spokesman for General David H. Petreus, commander of Coalition forces in Iraq.
Yesterday saw the death of Majida Hamid Ibrahim, a 40-year-old woman from Baghdad's southern outskirts who became the first confirmed cholera case in the Iraqi capital from an outbreak spreading around the country.
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The World Health Organization has confirmed at least 3,315 cholera cases and registered more than 30,000 cases of acute watery diarrhea -- which could also prove to be cholera in its more common, milder form.
At a Pentagon press conference today, Secretary Gates cited the growing number of cases as proof that the troop surge is having a positive effect on conditions in Iraq. "We know that as civilian casualties from sectarian violence continue to fall, the number of deaths by other causes will make up a larger percentage of fatalities," Gates explained. "We view the rising number of Iraqis suffering from cholera and other contageous diseases as evidence that, with the level of violence dropping, conditions in that country are returning to normal."
President Bush, in a speech in Atlanta to the Georgia chapter of the American Philatelic Society, also cited the cholera epidemic as a positive step. "When you have people dying -- dying of, of, disease -- it means that, that, that they aren't being shot. Because when someone shoots you, you don't -- you don't get sick. And that's why -- why we think it's a good thing -- good that people aren't, aren't -- good that when they get sick, it's because -- because -- they haven't died -- haven't been killed by the terrorists."
At least 14 Iraqis have already died from the acute and rapid dehydration caused by cholera, and WHO has warned that -- as the weather cools and temperatures become more favorable for transmission -- the bacteria could spread further.