Iraq - Deaths of U.S. Soldiers Climb

While the New York Times spin rate climbs even higher.

Every single death is tragic and I'm not playing down any of them, but things certainly aren't as the NYT would have you believe. No surprise there.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 12 - The death toll for American troops is rising steeply this month, with the military today announcing the deaths of two more soldiers, bringing the number of troops killed this month to at least 33. That figure already surpasses the American military deaths for all of March, and could signal a renewed insurgent offensive against the American presence here.

Let's deal with a factual error first. According to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count there have been 33 troop "deaths" so far this month but 7 of those were from accidents. That brings the total "killed" down to 27. So that alone shows the number killed so far is still below March's figure of 31 - but just.

As for a "renewed insurgent offensive", take a look at how the troops were killed and where.

Of the 27 "killed" in action, all most all of them, 20, were killed by IEDs. Just as in previous months.

Most of the deaths have occurred in or around Baghdad or near the province of Anbar. Just as in previous months.

What does it all mean? Well, it could be that the US has been conducting more operations in these areas lately and thereby providing more targets for the terrorists. It could also mean the terrorist have been lucky at hiding IEDs and we've been unlucky finding them lately.

It could also mean the terrorist wanted to make a point lately. I'm thinking of an important date, say the 9th of April.

It also means the terrorist have to rely almost totally on IEDs and are not engaging in combat in any numbers.

Again, all these deaths are tragic but that's no excuse for the NYT to make political hay of their deaths.

UPDATE

Since this post has caused a great deal of interest from the Left, let's put this in context.

On the 10th of April the Military announces that military recruitment, both active and reserve is up for the 10th month in a row. This is expecially true for the Army and Marines - those who bear the brunt of most of the fighting. Did the NYT report this?

In an attempt to bury this good news, the NYT releases a false story on the Army's officer retention. The NYT headline blares "Young Officers Leaving Army at a High Rate"

As Gateway Pundit notes "Never mind that the trend shows young officers are staying in the service at a rate much higher than when Bill Clinton was president. Never mind that there was improvement this quarter... It still screams "quagmire!" at the Times."

Check out the graph for yourself.

What all this points to is a pattern of lies and deception at the NYT.

On the 18th of March, The Times was caught out with bogus story on Abu Ghraib.

Then on the 23rd of March, The Times was caught out with a bogus story on Katrina.

Next on the 29th of March, they were caught misleading their readers on the NSA wiretap program.

On the 3rd of April we learn the Times has been caught out with a fake story from Iraq.

ON the 7th of April the New York Times admitted it lied when it claimed "Hispanics in the Iraq war and blacks in the Vietnam War accounted for a disproportionate number of casualties". The NYT now admit that "Statistics do not support the belief."

What does all this prove? The New York Times is a lying left wing rag.

But none of this matters to the Left, in fact the truth doesn't matter to the Left. All they care about is getting back into power, even going so far as to form an unholy alliance with Islamists.

The Left have sold out to the devil and now their trying to sell out America - with the help of the lying left wing media.

For more on the media's lies and bias see here and here.
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