(Occasional sobering thoughts.) Initially uttered a year ago by proponents of the Iraq war, these last months "The Surge Is Working" refrain has seemed the received wisdom about Iraq. Not even Democrats -- who, as we posted, had pushed back during primary debates -- bothered any more to argue otherwise.Thus the news out of Mosul, that 2 U.S. troops are dead and 6 wounded, at the hands of an Iraqi soldier who was supposed to be part of their coalition, is a bit jarring.
More jarring still, news that there were at least 21 other casualties yesterday, and that a dozen of them occurred in a "single attack," when "a booby-trapped car exploded, followed by another bomb blast at a bus station in a working class district of Baghdad."
Most jarring, perhaps, is consideration of what must be meant by the "it's working" refrain even on days without so many casualties. If available numbers are correct, in this period when the refrain went largely unquestioned, somewhere between 180 and 200 Iraqi civilians were killed every week: Iraq Body Count's current estimate, that between 88,947 and 97,086 Iraqi women, children, and men have died in the conflict in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, represents an increase of between 1,304 and 1,422 deaths in the last 7 weeks in the country whose emigrants are seeking asylum in numbers greater than any other group.
Nor was yesterday's incident in Mosul the only 1 during this period that involved troops. According to the U.S. Defense Department, 4,195 American servicemembers have been killed in Iraq. Total coalition fatalities: 4,509 persons. That's 23 servicemember deaths in the last 7 weeks, all of them Americans.
Put aside whether "the surge" will work as troops draw down. Even as things now stand, to say "the surge is working" seems to say that the current numbers are acceptable.
As for the conflict in Afghanistan, "it's working" is seldom heard.
There military casualties in Afghanistan stand at 626 Americans and 381 other coalition servicemembers. That's an increase of 21 and 5, respectively, in the last 7 weeks, and a total servicemember casualty count 1,007.
As for civilians and nonmilitary personnel, numbers are harder to come by. Today's news tells of a suicide bombing that killed 18 civilians and 1 soldier. Earlier headlines give no moree comfort:
► Afghan woman police director gunned down
► Taliban gunmen kill Western aid worker on Afghan street
► Afghanistan says 17 civilians killed in fighting
► Afghan Civilian Deaths Acknowledged By Pentagon, Officials Say 30 Killed In Strike
And Pakistan, the new front on which we've posted, remains an issue. A U.S. aid worker was killed there yesterday, a French aid worker kidnapped last week. Moreover, The New York Times reported on Sunday:
The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials.
