Figure don't lie but liars figure

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woiraq124888286sep12,0,2296195.story?coll=ny-worldnews-print

Iraq death toll doesn't add up

U.S. military says it had excluded various types of murders in its recent noted drop in Baghdad-area killings

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

September 12, 2006


BAGHDAD - The American military did not count people killed by bombs, mortars, rockets or other mass attacks - including suicide bombings - when it reported a dramatic drop in the number of murders in the Baghdad area last month, the U.S. command said yesterday.

The decision to include only victims of drive-by shootings and those killed by torture and execution, usually at the hands of death squads, allowed U.S. officials to argue that a security crackdown that began in the capital Aug. 7 had more than halved the city's murder rate.

But the types of slayings, including suicide bombings, that the United States excluded from the category of "murder" were not made explicit at the time. That led to confusion after Iraqi Health Ministry figures showed that 1,536 people died violently in and around Baghdad in August, nearly the same number as in July.

The figures raise serious questions about the success of the security operation launched by the U.S.-led coalition. When they released the murder rate figures, U.S. officials and their Iraqi counterparts were eager to show progress in restoring security in Baghdad at a time when Iraq appeared on the verge of civil war.

At the end of last month, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, said violence had dropped significantly because of the operation. He did not, however, make the key distinction that the rate he was referring to excluded a significant part of the daily violence in and around the capital.

Yesterday, for example, at least 24 of the 29 people slain in the capital were killed in bombings.

[neoblues]

1. Remember: if They say it... it's always a Lie.

Imagine how America would be reacting if New York or Washington D.C. was experiencing 1,536 people killed by violence every month... That's a 9/11 every two months... and the people have to endure that while suffering in the 115 degree heat.

[OneBlueSky]

2. it's so easy to tell when they're lying . . .

their lips are moving . . .

(or their fax machines are faxing) . . .

(or their keyboards are typing) . . .

(or their media is reporting) . . .