Fwd: [ cacklinggrackle] Baghdad safe if you don't count the bombs

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kalewms <kalewms

Sep 12, 2006 6:55 AM

[cacklinggrackle] Baghdad safe if you don't count the bombs

cacklinggrackle

 

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Sept. 12) - The American military did not count people

killed by bombs, mortars, rockets or other mass attacks - including

suicide bombings - when it reported a dramatic drop in the number of

murders in the Baghdad area last month, the U.S. command said Monday.

 

The decision to include only victims of drive-by shootings and those

killed by torture and execution, usually at the hands of death squads,

allowed U.S. officials to argue that a security crackdown that began

in the capital Aug. 7 had more than halved the city's murder rate.

But the types of slayings, including suicide bombings, that the U.S.

excluded from the category of " murder " were not made explicit at the

time. That led to confusion after Iraqi Health Ministry figures showed

that 1,536 people died violently in and around Baghdad in August,

nearly the same number as in July. The figures raise serious

questions about the success of the security operation launched by the

U.S.-led coalition. When they released the murder rate figures, U.S.

officials and their Iraqi counterparts were eager to show progress in

restoring security in Baghdad at a time when Iraq appeared on the

verge of civil war. At the end of August, the top U.S. military

spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell , said violence had

dropped significantly because of the operation. Caldwell said " attacks

in Baghdad were well below the monthly average for July. Since Aug. 7,

the murder rate in Baghdad dropped 52 percent from the daily rate for

July. " However, Caldwell did not make the key distinction that the

rate he was referring to excluded a significant part of the daily

violence in and around the capital. On Monday, for example, at least

20 of the 26 people slain in the capital were killed in bombings.

" These comments were intended to highlight some specific indicators of

progress and were never stated in relation to broader casualty

figures, " U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said Monday.

He said Caldwell " used murders and executions specifically because

they are a key indicator of sectarian-related violence. " Johnson said

other types of violence that are recorded by the military as

" indicators for calculating casualties " include suicide attacks,

mortar and rocket assaults, roadside bombs - called improvised

explosive devices, or IEDs - small-arms fire " such as when used to

fire in crowds after an IED attack versus an individual being

murdered, " and car bombs - known as VBIEDs.

 

more at:

 

 

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/us-military-excluded-bombs-from-baghdad/200\

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