US, Civilian Deaths Continue Fall In Iraq

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Boston Globe
November 3, 2007 Commanders cite new tactics
By Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press
BAGHDAD - Police found the bodies of six victims of sectarian violence dumped in three Iraqi cities yesterday. There were no reported shootings or bombings, and it was only the second day this year that the sectarian death toll fell below 10, according to an Associated Press count.
Both days were Fridays, the Muslim day of rest and prayer. The last was Feb. 23, when records show five Iraqis were found dead in Baghdad. No one died in shootings or bombings on that day either.
On average, 56 Iraqis - civilians and security forces - have died each day this year. But there appears to be a marked difference between Feb. 23 and yesterday.
More than four months after US forces completed a 30,000-strong force buildup, the death toll for both Iraqis and Americans has fallen dramatically for two months running.
US commanders credit a new tactic of putting troops into neighborhood bases and of signing on disaffected former enemies as new allies in the fight against the most radical elements in both the Shi'ite and Sunni communities, especially Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr also has called a cease-fire, a move seen largely responsible for the drop in sectarian murders.
On Feb. 23, when the death toll was five, the foreshortened month would end with 1,801 Iraqis killed. While impossible to forecast what this month holds, yesterday's low figure follows an Iraqi toll of 905 last month. The number was 1,023 in September and 1,956 in August. The figures for US military deaths followed the same downward trend: 84 in August; 65 in September; 39 last month.
At Fort Jackson in South Carolina yesterday, President Bush said US efforts were paying off, as life slowly returns to normal in Iraq and violence declines. Bush cited the reopening of shops and higher electricity production than existed under Saddam Hussein.
"They're taking their country back," Bush said at a ceremony for 1,300 soldiers graduating from basic training. He said continued American sacrifice would help Iraqi leaders curb the sectarian fighting.
As if sensing a shift in conditions in the capital, Iraqis in mainly Shi'ite eastern Baghdad have returned to the streets in numbers not seen in months.
Firas Rahim, who owns a shop selling clothing for men and children in the Karradah neighborhood, said the number of customers in the store has risen 75 percent in recent days. He now stays open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Before the chaos diminished he was open only from 5 to 7 p.m.
"I was afraid to stay open longer because of the bombings and violence. Things are looking better now. My business is booming," Rahim said. "I have whole families coming in again."
Taxis and minibuses, scarce even on recent Fridays, were plentiful. In the mainly Shi'ite district of New Baghdad, in the east of the capital, a small amusement park was under repair, workmen rejuvenating the rides.
Shops were under repair for reopening. And in the neighborhood market, there were women present, able to enter without searches for the first time in months. Residents said hundreds of shops that had been closed on recent Fridays were now open.
But people remain bunkered in many neighborhoods of west Baghdad where struggle for control still rages among militant Shi'ites and Sunnis.
 
Yes it sure is good news. It must be great news because the media couldn't even squash it. :-D
 
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