Troop Deaths in Iraq Decline

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The New York Sun

BAGHDAD — October is on course to record the second consecutive decline in American military and Iraqi civilian deaths and Americans commanders say they know why: the American troop increase and an Iraqi groundswell against Al Qaeda and Shiite militia extremists.

Major General Rick Lynch points to what the military calls “Concerned Citizens” — both Shiites and Sunnis who have joined the American fight. He says he’s signed up 20,000 of them in the past four months.

“I’ve never been more optimistic than I am right now with the progress we’ve made in Iraq. The only people who are going to win this counterinsurgency project are the people of Iraq. We’ve said that all along. And now they’re coming forward in masses,” General Lynch said in a recent interview at an American base deep in hostile territory south of Baghdad. Outgoing artillery thundered as he spoke.

General Lynch, who commands the 3rd Infantry Division and once served as the military spokesman in Baghdad, is a tireless cheerleader of the American effort in Iraq. But the death toll over the past two months appears to reinforce his optimism. The question, of course: Will it last?

As of today, the Pentagon reported 28 American military deaths in October. That’s an average of about 1.2 deaths a day. The toll on American troops hasn’t been this low since March 2006, when 31 soldiers died — an average of one death a day.

In September, 65 American soldiers died in Iraq.


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