Not only is the surge going badly, it’s worse than we thought. So called reports of reduced deaths as a result of the “surge” are actually a result of sleazy accounting on the part of the occupation force:
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.
Meanwhile Iraq continues to gather apace towards becoming a hell hole, which makes the warnings about the consequences of withdrawing from Iraq seem laughable.