WASHINGTON – In vertical bars
of blue, green, gray and red, a briefing
chart prepared by the Defense Intelligence
Agency says what Gen. David
Petraeus won’t.
Insurgent attacks against Iraqi
civilians, their security forces and
U.S. troops remain high, according
to the document obtained by The
Associated Press. It is a conclusion that
the well-regarded Army officer who
is the top U.S. commander in Iraq is
expected to try to counter when he and
Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in
Baghdad, testify before Congress on
Monday and Tuesday.
More than four years into a conflict
initially thought to be a cakewalk, the
war has become a battle of statistics,
graphs and conflicting assessments of
progress in a country of more than 27
million people.
With so much depending on how the
statistics are collected and interpreted, policymakers
in Washington are confused.
“What is really going on? What
standards should we look at? Where
do we go from here?” asked Rep. Ike
Skelton, D-Mo.
Nearly 77 percent of Iraqis want the
militias in Iraq to be dissolved, according
to the Government Accountability
Office, yet their government has not
written legislation to do so.
While the rights of Iraq’s minority
political parties are protected in the
legislature, the GAO said violence
against minority religious and ethnic
groups continues “unabated” in most
areas of Iraq.
The report used the defense
intelligence’s countrywide figures to
conclude that the average number
of daily attacks against civilians has
remained “about the same” during
the past six months.
In July, the White House, citing
“trends data” from Petraeus’ command,
said sectarian violence, particularly in
Baghdad, had declined since the troop
increase began in February.