Combat Deaths Continue Declining Through Early October

Trend? Nah. I guess it's only a story for conservative outlets like CNS News. The MSM wants the war officially won before they'll lower themselves to reporting on it at all.

The casualty count from Iraq continues to decline for the first half of October, according to Department of Defense reports.

In the first half of October, 14 casualties were reported, 12 of which were combat related. The most recent reported death was from Oct. 12.

Last year -- during the same period -- there were 44 deaths in Iraq, all but two combat related. That's nearly three times the number of casualties as this year (for the first two weeks of October).

September 2007 marked a 14-month low in reported casualties -- 68 deaths from Iraq, a drop in casualties the military credited to the 30,000 "surge" in troops that began in June. In the September totals, 41 deaths were from combat.

The first half of September had a total of 42 overall deaths, 27 of which were combat related -- more than twice as many as the number reported for the first half of this month.

More: The WaPo editorial board seems upset they even have to acknowledge that hope is unavaoidable, though they've done a terrific job of avoiding it.

And over at Instapundit, Michael Yon confirms -- Al Qaeda's been pwned.

posted by Ace at 03:01 PM

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