Iraq: Oh What Wicked Lies They Weave

Today’s Iraq war cold shower is brought to you by the number crunchers as The Associated Press, who penetrated the Bush administration’s smokescreen about the success of the surge to find that deaths from political violence have increased since that last-gasp offensive began.

Indeed, deaths per day from political violence this year average 62, while deaths per day from political violence in 2006 averaged 33.

Wait, there’s more:

* Nearly 1,000 more people have been killed in violence across Iraq in the first eight months of this year, more than in all of 2006. So far this year, about 14,800 people have died in war-related attacks and sectarian murders. The AP accounted for 13,811 deaths in 2006.

* Baghdad has gone from representing 76 percent of all civilian and police war-related deaths in Iraq in January to 52 percent in July, bringing it back to the same spot it was roughly a year ago.

Translation: Insurgents and militias have responded to the surge by pushing outward from the capital, which is exactly what was predicted by myself and a lot of other folks who keep an eye on the war.

Image: Boots symbolizing fallen Specialist Frances M. Benitez
sit on the steps of the Catholic cathedral in Old San Juan,
Puerto Rico. Photograph by The Associated Press.