US Military Deaths In Iraq At 14-Month Low - Iranian SAMs Found
US military deaths in Iraq stood at a 14-month low on Sunday and Ramadan attacks were sharply down from the last several years, US commanders said.
As September drew to a close, US military losses for the month stood at 71, the lowest monthly figure since July last year, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.
The figure marks the fourth consecutive drop in the monthly death toll.
US commanders said this was largely thanks to the “surge” strategy which saw an extra 28,500 US personnel deployed from mid-February, mainly in Baghdad and the neighbouring province of Anbar to the west.
“The trend is certainly in the right direction,” US military spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox told a press conference in Baghdad.
“The surge unquestionably is what has been the catalyst that has created the opportunity to have more forces operating in more places at the same time and to deny Al-Qaeda and the extremists safe haven and to take away sanctuaries.”
The commander on the ground in Al-Anbar province, the big success story as far as the military is concerned thanks to an anti-Al-Qaeda partnership with Sunni sheikhs, said things were even better in his zone during Ramadan.
Brigadier General Mark Gurganus reported a 38 percent drop in incidents across Iraq during the first fortnight of Ramadan compared to the same period last year.
In Anbar, there had been roughly 90 incidents during each of the first two weeks of the Muslim holy month this year compared to 415 during one week alone in 2006.
He cautioned that Al-Qaeda would try to work its way back into the population centres in the province and speculated that they might try another high-profile killing there as they did earlier in the month.
Sunni sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Reesha, who had forged a powerful coalition of more than 40 Anbar tribes against Al-Qaeda, was killed by a roadside bomb on the first day of Ramadan, September 13.
“One of the things that always concerns me is their constant desire to pull off the one spectacular attack,” said General Gurganus in the joint press conference with Fox.
According to Fox, meanwhile, the military has seized sophisticated Iranian-made surface-to-air missiles that were being used by insurgents in the war-torn country.
Several Misagh-1s have been found in different locations, he said, but stopped short of saying the use of the weapons represented an escalation of Iranian activity in Iraq.
“We’ve said that we’ve found these things, we’ve seen them employed. That’s significant in its own right,” Fox told reporters.
The remarks came amid heightened tension between Tehran and Washington after US forces detained Iranian national Mahmudi Farhadi in northern Iraq last week, prompting Iran to close its border with the Kurdish autonomous region.
US commanders accuse Farhadi, detained 10 days ago in the northern province of Sulaimaniyah, of being one of the kingpins in bomb smuggling operations.
The military spokesman played down any political aspect in the arrest.
“We are not looking to try to over-hype this or enflame the situation; we are playing it exactly straight,” Fox said.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, has charged that the US military ignored the authority of the Kurdish regional government in detaining Farhadi and has demanded the Iranian’s immediate release.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
Just another example of how you win wars. Close with the enemy, kill him, maneuver and attack him again before he can regroup. Leave him no sanctuary; give him no quarter.
You don’t win with politically correct weanies from the State Department assuming that Iraq after decades of living under a crazed psychopath was just like Kansas.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:02 pmOf those 71 at least 13 are non-combat related. That is a significant number. Once again the slumber party and the neo-Pravda crowd are full of shit.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:39 pm@Dan(The Infidel) -
I see you caught onto my “neoPRAVDA” … Spread it around, baby!
September 30th, 2007 at 5:19 pmThe CIA should use the Iranian Misagh-1s surface-to-air missiles to shoot down Ahmadinejad’s plane returning from his world circus tour.
September 30th, 2007 at 7:06 pmThe decreasing number of deaths in Iraq is good news for those who want to see success in Iraq and bad news for defeatists.
Whether or not public opinion on the war itself budges, one thing should never budge: Our ongoing support for the troops. That’s my opinion. I usually express my opinions in the form of musically-enhanced comments. I call it Blog n Roll. On this issue of the troop surge, my opinion is as follows:
Let’s end the war, but let’s…
End the War (By Winning It)!
Dr BLT (c) 2007
http://www.drblt.net/music/LetsWIN2C.mp3
I say that it’s not time to bring the troops…
Home
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:56 amDr BLT & The Coalition of the Willing
Dr BLT (c) 2007
http://www.drblt.net/music/Home.mp3