AP tally: Civilian deaths in Baghdad down 45% since February
posted at 7:46 pm on April 13, 2007 by Allahpundit
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According to Iraqi police reports obtained by the AP. Great news, but there are caveats. Civilian deaths outside Baghdad over the same two-month period are up 49% and U.S. KIAs inside the capital are up 21%. It’s also unclear how reliable the police reports are. WaPo ran a white-knuckle page-one story a few days ago about U.S. troops inside Sadr City who suspect virtually every last cop on the beat of either being JAM or afraid to cross the JAM. If that’s true, you can bet there are plenty of killings going on that aren’t making it into the blotter.
Reasons?
It is unclear why deaths outside Baghdad have increased. However, U.S. military officials say both Sunni and Shiite extremists left Baghdad ahead of the crackdown, instead stepping up their operations in a belt of communities around the capital.
The rise in deaths outside Baghdad may also be partly a result of clashes in Anbar province between al-Qaida extremists and Sunni tribes that have broken with the extremist movement.
That trend will continue and probably even increase once operations against AQ in Diyala province get going.
Speaking of Al Qaeda, they’re working on a trend of their own. I wrote a few weeks ago about rumors of mentally disabled kids being used in jihadi attacks. As it turns out, it’s not a rumor. Bear in mind, this is a UN news agency report, not something from Centcom:
The dreams 13-year-old Barak Muhammad (not his real name) had of leading a normal teenage life were dashed when his father sold him to al-Qaeda militants. Being mentally handicapped, he said he was considered a burden by his family and was told he would be better off sacrificing his life for his country…
Barak’s father sold him to al-Qaeda in Iraq for US $10,000 to support his remaining five children. Now, Barak is in training to fight US and Iraqi troops…
Carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle, Barak said he accompanies insurgents during night time raids and when needed acts as a decoy to divert the attention of US or Iraqi forces in the run-up to an attack…
Like Barak, dozens of other mentally handicapped children are being used by insurgents to fight US and Iraqi forces…
Officials at a local NGO, who refused to be named for security reasons, said they had received many reports that mentally handicapped children were being used in insurgent attacks, especially in cities such as Diyala, Ramadi and Fallujah.
Iraqi kids who aren’t mentally disabled are doing their best to persevere, god love ‘em.
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A new low. Insurgents hit the bottom of moral depravity and started digging…
Followed by a ray of hope…
I guess when life is so cheap that indiscriminate killing can go on unabated except for military forces holding you back, and strapping bomb vests onto children becomes a new “tactic”, then taking advantage of mentally disabled children is naturally the next step. I’m so grateful I have difficulty understanding such a mind-boggling train of thought.
thedecider on April 13, 2007 at 8:00 PM
But we’re big and they’re small, so they get to use any means available because “it’s their only way to fight back.” I’m sure if we were invaded by some foreign power, we’d send our retarded boys and girls out as decoys so we could distract them long enough to kill a bunch of Americans.
askheaves on April 13, 2007 at 8:17 PM
Here’s a stupid question, will someone please tell me why this won’t work (or has it been tried and fallen flat?)
Run commericals on Iraw tv and on the radio and in newspapers saying over and over and over: “Take back your country. The only way to stop the killing is to report the murderers amongst you. When you see a roadside bomb being planted, report it. When you know the next door neighbor is AQ, report him. Once the killing stops, your lives will begin. Only you can stop this madness and live like free people.”
I’ve heard speculatio that Iraqis “want their civil war.” Can that really be true, that they want this?
JustTruth101 on April 13, 2007 at 8:23 PM
(oops – Iraq, duh, typing too fast)
JustTruth101 on April 13, 2007 at 8:23 PM
Considering that outside of Anbar there really weren’t many civilian casualties before, a 49% increase outside of Baghdad might not amount to much in absolute numbers. Also, in the first 12 days of April the daily toll is down considerably over the first 12 days of February all across Iraq.
I also noticed an item today that showed 9 Iraqi insurgent groups banding together against Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Resistance Grows Against “Islamic State”
crosspatch on April 13, 2007 at 8:37 PM
Allah, I think the use of these poor, disabled children is another indication of a turning point having been reached.
As decider stated, this “new low”, in my opinion, indicates that only the most virulent fighters are willing to continue the struggle by using any and all means available. Vaguely like kamikazes, it could be a sign of the beginning of the end.
Zorro on April 13, 2007 at 8:57 PM
This is forbidden knowledge. None must learn of this.
All of your Dhemocrats are belong to us.
Mojave Mark on April 13, 2007 at 9:40 PM
Huh. Dan Harris of ABC News is saying something different to college students here in Maine.
Weird. Must be a mix up or something.
Slublog on April 13, 2007 at 9:52 PM
Just for the record (and the sake of argument), does this vilify or support the recent comments of our favorite RINO, McCain?
thedecider on April 13, 2007 at 10:21 PM
NY Times? Anyone? Did I miss it? Oprah? Geraldo? Bill Maher? Anyone? Dan Rather? Ted Kennedy? Nancy Pelosi? Anyone? Mrs. Clinton, where everything is for the children? The Teachers’ Union? Anyone? Anyone…..?
(crickets chirping)……….
PinkyBigglesworth on April 13, 2007 at 11:29 PM
How come we never get to hear stats on how many bad guys we’ve killed?
Tony737 on April 14, 2007 at 12:15 AM
You know someone is getting chewed out for choosing the alias name Barak. At least they left the c out.
Bill C on April 14, 2007 at 1:08 AM
Two reasons, Tony. First, we learned a very hard lesson from Vietnam about over-reliance on “body count” – that can be turned into a political football. Also, we do report successes, but AP, Reuters, et al., won’t bother to tell anyone. Check DEFENSELINK news releases and then look for any of those stories out in the ususal suspects (NYT, LAT, WaPo, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN) and you don’t really find them.
major john on April 14, 2007 at 11:31 AM
I don’t really know but wouldn’t you think that by definition this would only be an estimate?
honora on April 14, 2007 at 12:08 PM
Because our&world media don’t consider them “bad guys”, Tony. They are ‘victimized’ by us.
Entelechy on April 14, 2007 at 3:09 PM
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