Anbar Casualties Drop to All-Time Low

The wily al-Sadr is just toying with us. Once he actually feels safe enough to re-enter Iraq, and then manages to exert control over his own Shiite forces, he'll take command of all the Anbar Sunnis and give us a double-dose of what's what.

U.S. causalities in Iraq's once-volatile Anbar Province have dropped in recent months to the lowest levels since the U.S. invasion in March 2003, a fact some analysts attribute to the success of the 2004 Battle of Fallujah and the more recent "surge" strategy that increased U.S. troops in the province, reports CNSNews.com Staff Writer Kevin Mooney.

U.S. casualties in Anbar peaked in November and December of 2004 and January of 2005, during a U.S. offensive aimed at Sunni insurgents and terrorists who were then occupying the city of Fallujah, a CNSNews.com analysis of Defense Department data shows. The U.S. offensive there began on November 8, 2004. That month, U.S. forces suffered more than 300 casualties in Anbar. In December 2004, U.S. forces suffered more than 100 casualties in Anbar. In January 2005, they suffered 53. U.S. casualties in the province were never that high again.

In the first five months of 2008 combined, there have been 14 U.S. casualties in Anbar, according to U.S. Defense Department reports. That is a decline of 89% from the 124 casualties that took place in Anbar in the first five months of 2007.

Democrats, of course, are spurning Iraq's attempts to forge an alliance with us.

The WaPo is mystified as to why this should be. Or rather, they pretend to be. But I suppose their gentle chiding is the best way to get through to those few Democrats who still actually care about US national security.

They're so hatefully partisan they would spurn a pro-Western, (relatively) progressive (relatively) functioning democracy -- and a possible shining light to the rest of the Muslim world -- just to demonstrate how much they hate George W. Bush.

posted by Ace at 03:36 PM

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