Iraqi civilian deaths rise in countryside

Sometimes you really do wish you're wrong, but then reality strikes.

We were warned.

Newly released statistics for Iraqi civilian deaths in August reflect the strikingly mixed security picture that has emerged from a gradual six-month increase in U.S. troop strength here: The number of deaths across the country rose by about 20 percent since July, but in the capital itself, the number dropped sharply.

The figures, provided by Iraqi Interior Ministry officials Saturday, appeared to mirror the geographic pattern of the troop increase, which is focused on Baghdad. The national rise in mortality is partly a result of the enormous death toll in a truck bomb attack in August north of the capital, outside the areas directly affected by the additional troops.

More than 500 members of a small religious minority called the Yazidis died in the Aug. 14 bombing in the north, according to figures collected by the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, which paid compensation to victims' families.

As Ryan C. Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top commander of military forces here, prepare to brief Congress on the progress of the troop increase, Iraqi politicians, recognizing what is at stake, view the new figures through the lens of how their parties hope Congress will assess the situation in Iraq.

"We were hoping the figures would go down, but what happened was expected," said Haidar al-Ebadi, who sits in parliament as a senior member of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Party. The troop
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increase had made it harder for insurgent groups to operate in Baghdad, he said, so they had pushed outward to easier targets.

"I believe that we should not read these numbers as an assessment of the security plan," Ebadi said. "The security plan was a success so far." [emphasis mine]

Oh yeah, a success? Tell that to the surviving friends and families of those killed. What a tool.

Via Mercury News.