Our casualties are down in Iraq and so as we start to draw down our troop strength and bring them out of Iraq, our troops do so as battlefield victors and not victims of the Bushhitlercheneyhalliburton!rushtotliedtowarandtheydontevenbelieveinglobalwarmingreally regime:
Security conditions in the Iraq they are leaving are much improved over those the extra troops encountered when they arrived, say analysts and defense officials, many of whom are confident that trend will continue even without the extra US troops.
The departure of the two brigades comes as the number of American casualties is at a new low. Of the heavy fighting that continues in Iraq, in places like Basra and the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, much is now being led by the Iraqis themselves. As a result, the number of US casualties last month fell to 19, a number not seen since February 2004, according to icasualties.org.
The toll among Iraqi security forces has also fallen, from 980 in March to 506 in May.
Even this upbeat assessment contains a major error. Icasualties.org counts 506 Iraqi civilians and Iraqi security forces combined. I'd guess that a hundred or so of those casualties are actually security forces, meaning the enemy isn't fighting nearly as hard as over 500 friendly KIA would indicate.
I'm sure the anti-war side--never pro-defeat but always concerned about fighting a war we are doomed to lose--will join in our victory celebration when that day comes.
