U.S. officials exclude car bombs in touting drop in Iraq violence

[babylonsister]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

U.S. officials exclude car bombs in touting drop in Iraq violence
By Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON - U.S. officials who say there has been a dramatic drop in sectarian violence in Iraq since President Bush began sending more American troops into Baghdad aren't counting one of the main killers of Iraqi civilians.

Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three years, but the administration doesn't include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is beginning to defuse tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

more...

Read more: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17134253.htm

[truthisfreedom]

1. That's because cheating and not facing reality have been the premise of this war, and continue to be

Why would we expect anything to change?

[rodeodance]

2. they are redefining success in a way that suits them," ......

.. President Bush explained why in a television interview on Tuesday. "If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory," he told TV interviewer Charlie Rose.

Others, however, say that not counting bombing victims skews the evidence of how well the Baghdad security plan is protecting the civilian population - one of the surge's main goals.

"Since the administration keeps saying that failure is not an option, they are redefining success in a way that suits them," said James Denselow, an Iraq specialist at London-based Chatham House, a foreign policy think tank.

Bush administration officials have pointed to a dramatic decline in one category of deaths - the bodies dumped daily in Baghdad streets, which officials call sectarian murders - as evidence that the security plan is working. Bush said this week that that number had declined by 50 percent, a number confirmed by statistics compiled by McClatchy Newspapers.

But the number of people killed in explosive attacks is rising, the same statistics show - up from 323 in March, the first full month of the security plan, to 365 through April 24.

[MidwestTransplant]

3. Those people are less dead.

[KeepItReal]

4. Cookin' the books again? Ken Lay would be proud of Bush & Co.

This is just like how Bush & Co. measure inflation for Americans, but *exclude* food and transportation costs.

[ninkasi]

5. Lying is one of the main characteristics

of the Bush administration. They lie every time they speak. When either sect, Shia or Sunni dies as a result of these bombings, they are just as dead, and their families just as grief-stricken. What a load of crap Bushco is trying to sell us.

[Javaman]

6. Just like the budget. the always conveniently forget the cost of the war. nt

[Heidi]

7. Kick.

:kick:

[Barrett808]

8. Death toll excludes bombs - U.S. officials don't count some civilian casualties

Source: McClatchy

Death toll excludes bombs
Study: U.S. officials don't count some civilian casualties

Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - U.S. officials who say there has been a dramatic drop in sectarian violence in Iraq since President Bush began sending more American troops into Baghdad aren't counting one of the main killers of Iraqi civilians.

Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three years, but the administration doesn't include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is beginning to defuse tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

President Bush explained why in a television interview Tuesday. "If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory," he told TV interviewer Charlie Rose.

Others, however, say that not counting bombing victims skews the evidence of how well the Baghdad security plan is protecting the civilian population -- one of the surge's main goals.

"Since the administration keeps saying that failure is not an option, they are redefining success in a way that suits them," said James Denselow, an Iraq specialist at London-based Chatham House, a foreign policy think tank.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/505/story/567684.html

[BOSSHOG]

9. My Wife and I are completely debt free

If we don't count the mortgage. Its really silly thinking like a conservative.

bush is a really wonderful human if you don't take into consideration his lies, addictions, desertions, crimes and his pure fucking evil heart.

[Xipe Totec]

10. LOL!

you nailed it.

:rofl:

[TomInTib]

12. Wow! I feel better already...

Why didn't I think of that earlier?

[FiddlersGreen]

14. the mortgage thing is not irrational

You would not be completely deceitful to say you are living debt-free with the exception of a mortgage. You can live in the house, there are tax law govering deductions of mortgage payments, and it is possible to sell that property and make a profit.


What the WHite HOuse is saying in this case is deceitful.

[rodeodance]

11. They depend on Americans being stupid (and sucking up their stupidity)

[central scrutinizer]

13. WTF?

Can somebody please decode this Bushism for me: "If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory," he told TV interviewer Charlie Rose.

I have tried parsing that a few ways and cannot make sense of it. Where is my DU magic decoder ring?

[RedEarth]

15. Unbelievable............

...but not really for the bush admin...lie and spin

[sutz12]

16. When you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.

I said this in another thread. Oddly enough, it was about this administration's handling of.....well a different subject. But it fits just about everything they do.

:shrug:

[enki23]

17. even bigger question: when did they *start* excluding those deaths from their count?

even if they've been doing it all along, of course, it could still affect the numbers, if the relative number of bombing deaths had changed, etc. but if they changed their methodology at some point in the system, it would point to a damned-near criminal attempt to mislead the american people.

again, of course. nothing new here. news, yes, but not truly new news.

[Doctor_J]

18. Except for the heat, the weather in the Sahara is pretty good

and if you toss out Microsoft, Bill Gates has hardly made any money in his lifetime.

[CGowen]

19. I wonder how those cars got to iraq

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2005/10/02/us_car_theft_rings_probed_for_ties_to_iraq_bombings/

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | October 2, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The FBI's counterterrorism unit has launched a broad investigation of US-based theft rings after discovering that some of the vehicles used in deadly car bombings in Iraq, including attacks that killed US troops and Iraqi civilians, were probably stolen in the United States, according to senior government officials.

[Up2Late]

20. Amazing.

I knew it would be something like this. :banghead: :nuke: