Baghdad Sunni teacher shot dead

[ProSense]

Baghdad Sunni teacher shot dead

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 44 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - A Sunni schoolteacher was seized from his car, then shot to death Thursday by suspected Shiite militia fighters, police said, a grim reminder of persistent sectarian tensions in Iraq.

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Such sectarian killings usually blamed on so-called death squads run by Shiite militias have been a daily occurrence in Iraq since a February 2006 bombing of an important Shiite shrine north of Baghdad sparked a wave of retaliatory violence.

The numbers have dropped dramatically since a major joint U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown began in Baghdad February. They have dropped further when radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in August ordered his Mahdi Army militia fighters to cease attacks for up to six months.

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The AP tally is compiled from hospital, police and military officials, as well as accounts from reporters and photographers. Insurgent deaths are not included. Other counts differ and some have given higher civilian death tolls.

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(Emphasis added)

Monday 22 October: 81 dead

[ProSense]

1. The Limits of the Surge

The Limits of the Surge

By Larry Johnson on October 25, 2007

There is some undeniable good news out of Iraq–the number of U.S. combat fatalities has dropped by at least 50% of the average monthly rate for the last year. Still, U.S. troops are being killed and wounded on a daily basis. Some days are worse than others. Here is the latest as of Wednesday, 24 October:

10/24/07 MNF: One MNC-I Soldier attacked, five wounded

One MNC-I Soldier was killed and five Soldiers were wounded today during combat operations near the city of Bayji.

10/24/07 MNF: Coalition Forces attacked (Tikrit)

One Coalition Forces Soldier died of wounds as a result of injuries from a mine explosion while conducting operations in Salah ad Din Oct. 24.

But the numbers are misleading and other signs continue to point in the wrong direction.

If the drop in U.S. combat deaths was a consequence of less fighting in Iraq in general then a celebration would be in order. But that is not the case. It appears that there has been a shift in U.S. tactics–fewer ground patrols and more air strikes (see Juan Cole’s commentary) . But it also appears that some of the Iraqi insurgent groups have opted to lay low rather than seek a head on confrontation. The real measure of whether the U.S. surge is working remains Iraqi politics; and on that front the news is not good.

Declining violence in Baghdad, for example, hides the darker news that we are witnessing the peace of the graveyard. The “improved security” is a by product of successful ethnic cleansing. The purge of Sunnis from mixed Sunni/Shia neighborhoods continues virtually unabated. Moqtada Al Sadr’s militia, working in tandem with Iraqi police, are expelling Sunnis from their homes. The following AP story tries to polish the turd but cannot hide the fact that the beat goes on:

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