Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Iraq Death Toll Plummets

U.S. Navy sailors from Riverine Squadron 1 patrol aboard riverine assault boats in the Euphrates River in Iraq on Nov. 27, 2008. DoD photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kevin S. O'Brien, U.S. Navy. (Released)

From Times Online:

The number of British and US forces who died in Iraq in 2008 looks set to be the lowest annual toll since the invasion nearly six years ago, while bombs and gunfire killed far fewer Iraqi civilians this year than in 2007.

The casualty turnaround is thanks, in part, to a surge of US troops last year and the growing competence of the Iraqi police and army.

A report by Iraq Body Count released at the weekend said the number of civilians, including policemen, to die in Iraq because of violence fell to between 8,315 and 9,028 over the past year compared with between 25,774 and 27,599 in 2006. In 2007, the toll was between 22,671 and 24,295.

In spite of the drop, an average of 25 Iraqi civilians were killed every day in Iraq in 2008.

Read more ....

My Comment: If this total is more than halved in 2009, one can then be able to safely say that the war is now "officially" over.

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