This graph is taken from the public domain Nov 2006 issue ot the Pentagon series- Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq. The red line is my personal "best fit" line for the overall trend. If you think you have a bitter line fit, please post the graph with your own trend line and leave a pointer here.
My red line is tracking civilian causalities. But the other attack indicators are rising too.
If you’ll check out the other graphs in my Flickr set or read through the report yourself, you’ll find that most other security indicators have deteriorated since 2004, which while not indicated in the reports, was itself a deterioration.
If the current “surge” effort under Gen. Petraeus represented a real break with the policies of the past, I’d give it a chance. But since the number of troops after the surge will still be below November 2005 levels and because it focuses on a specific area like prior efforts in Fallujah and elsewhere, it seems like more of the same.
After four years of this, both the American and especially the Iraqi publics deserve better. How about an Iraq Reconciliation Plan that has the support of a majority of the Iraqi Parliament?
Our tactics have failed to produce better security. It is long past time to try something different. Very different.
Filed under: government documents, iraq, war
