Iraqi Casualties Have Risen 51%, U.S. Study Finds

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Iraqi casualties soared by more than 50 percent in recent months, the product of spiraling sectarian clashes and a Sunni-based insurgency that remains “potent and viable,” the Pentagon said in its latest comprehensive assessment of security in Iraq.

During the period from the establishment of the new Iraqi government on May 20 until Aug. 11, the average number of weekly attacks jumped to almost 800. That was a substantial increase from earlier this year and almost double the number of the first part of 2004.

As a consequence, Iraqi casualties increased 51 percent over the last reporting period. The document notes that, based on initial reports, Iraqi casualties among civilians and security forces reached nearly 120 a day, up from about 80 a day in the pervious reporting period from mid-February to mid-May. About two years ago they were running about 30 a day.

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Democratic lawmakers portrayed the report as evidence that the administration’s strategy was failing. “They have not provided the real resources, in terms of both military and civilian advisers, nor real dollars to reconstruct and help Iraq emerge from this period of instability,” Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/02/world/middleeast/02military.html?hp&ex=1157169600&en=8d9d096c8d2e2bff&ei=5094&partner=homepage