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US casualties down in Iraq
U.S. military deaths during the past month have dropped to an average of about one a day, approaching the lowest level since the insurgency began two years ago, according to a USA TODAY analysis of U.S. military data.The decline in U.S. deaths comes as Iraqi casualties are the highest since the U.S. military began tracking them in 2004. In the past month, nearly five times as many Iraqi forces and civilians were killed as troops in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, U.S. military data show. The shift from spring 2004, when U.S. and Iraqi casualty rates were comparable, reflects an insurgency that increasingly targets Iraqis and the growing presence of Iraqi forces on the front lines. The Iraqi army is far bigger in number, far higher in training capability and far more willing to go where the fight is and take casualties, British Defense Secretary John Reid said in an interview. On the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion, however, a wave of violence against Iraqis is prompting talk of civil war. In an interview Sunday with the British Broadcasting Corp., former interim prime minister Ayad Allawi said, We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is. Vice President Cheney disagreed. Speaking on CBS' Face the Nation, Cheney said, What we've seen is a serious effort by (insurgents) to foment a civil war. But I don't think they've been successful. According to U.S. military data, about 15 Americans and 73 Iraqis are killed or injured each day. A USA TODAY analysis of U.S. military data shows the number of U.S. forces killed during the war has declined steadily since November. RAND Corp. military analyst Nora Bensahel says the increasing level of Iraqi casualties means Iraqi security forces are in positions of responsibility. The United States, which has 132,000 troops in Iraq, is doing fewer patrols on its own and more in support of Iraqi operations, reducing U.S. casualties. The U.S. military also has cut the number of American deaths by thwarting the homemade bombs that are the insurgency's prime weapon. Soldiers and Marines now find and neutralize more than 40% of the bombs, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said in an interview. That compares with 30% in September. Lynch said that 41 insurgent bombmakers have been killed or captured. Insurgents are losing skilled bombmakers, he said. Meanwhile, Iraq's 240,600 security forces increasingly are fighting insurgents directly, the Pentagon says. Sixty-three Iraqi units are operating independently or in a lead role with coalition support, up from 37 in September. Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari says military recruiting remains strong, despite the rising casualties. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-03-21 |
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