Defense reports indicate Iraq violence worsening; Bush says no it isn't

[ProSense]

August 17, 2006
The Military

Insurgent Bombs Directed at G.I.’s Increase in Iraq

By MICHAEL R. GORDON, MARK MAZZETTI and THOM SHANKER

This article is by Michael R. Gordon, Mark Mazzetti and Thom Shanker.

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The bomb statistics — compiled by American military authorities in Baghdad and made available at the request of The New York Times — are part of a growing body of data and intelligence analysis about the violence in Iraq that has produced somber public assessments from military commanders, administration officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“The insurgency has gotten worse by almost all measures, with insurgent attacks at historically high levels,” said a senior Defense Department official who agreed to discuss the issue only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for attribution. “The insurgency has more public support and is demonstrably more capable in numbers of people active and in its ability to direct violence than at any point in time.”

A separate, classified report by the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated Aug. 3, details worsening security conditions inside the country and describes how Iraq risks sliding toward civil war, according to several officials who have read the document or who have received a briefing on its contents.

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Senior Bush administration officials reject the idea that Iraq is on the verge of civil war, and state with unwavering confidence that the broad American strategy in Iraq remains on course. But American commanders in Iraq have shifted thousands of soldiers from outlying provinces to Baghdad to combat increased violence in the Iraqi capital.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/17/world/middleeast/17military.html

August 17, 2006
Violence

Iraqi and British Troops Clash With Shiite Militias

By PAUL von ZIELBAUER

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 16 — Iraqi security forces and British troops fought Shiite militias and tribesmen in two major cities south of Baghdad on Wednesday in sustained battles that left two policemen and a dozen militiamen dead. The violence underscored the tenuous grip the Iraqi government maintains even in regions not under the sway of Sunni Arab insurgents.

Also on Wednesday, as American and Iraqi Army soldiers continued a security sweep through hostile neighborhoods in western Baghdad, bombings in other parts of the city killed 21 people and wounded 59 others.

Violent eruptions in Karbala, a Shiite holy city about 60 miles southwest of here, and Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, demonstrated the destabilizing power of internecine conflicts that have little to do with the anti-American insurgency or sectarian killings.

In Basra, a gun battle erupted between Iraqi Army troops and members of the dominant local tribe, the Bani Asad, apparently angered by the killing on Tuesday of a tribal leader, Faisal Raji al-Asadi, government officials in Basra said.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/17/world/middleeast/17iraq.html

[Olney Blue]

1. They just don't stop insulting our intelligence.